Transforming a Brooklyn Neighborhood With New Condos

Not all that long ago, before the Brooklyn waterfront became a must-do on seemingly every tourist’s list, Dumbo’s converted warehouses and Belgian-block streets were inhabited by artists and young families, drawn by cheap rents, postindustrial architecture and relative isolation.

But over the last decade, Dumbo’s once desolate landscape has transformed to a teeming waterfront playground. And its now familiar acronym, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, has become synonymous with some of Brooklyn’s most expensive real estate, with a median sales price of $1.5 million through July, according to Streeteasy.com.

Weekdays, Dumbo’s burgeoning media and tech hub brings a steady torrent of jean-clad, Warby Parker-wearing 20- and 30-somethings streaming out of the subways each morning and into converted warehouses that house the headquarters of start-ups like the dating site HowAboutWe, the digital agency Huge and Etsy. On weekends, hordes of tourists descend on Brooklyn Bridge Park and Dumbo’s nearby streets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/realestate/transforming-a-brooklyn-neighborhood-with-new-condos.html?_r=0