Brooklyn Hits

EVEN with a gigantic cemetery, Greenwood Heights is full of life.

"It's a charming locale with a real Brooklyn neighborhood feel," says Isabelle Reboh, senior vice president at Brown Harris Stevens.

It's also a more affordable alternative to nearby Park Slope. In Greenwood Heights, two- or three-story row houses start at around $550,000, and new condos can run about $500 a square foot.

The up-and-coming area gets its name from the 478-acre Greenwood Cemetery (there's an entrance at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue), which includes the highest point in Brooklyn. Just south of Park Slope, Greenwood Heights' boundaries are debatable, but the consensus is the area goes from 18th Street to 30th Street, between Fourth Avenue and Prospect Park West.

Taking claim for the Greenwood Heights name, Fillmore Real Estate vice president Sal Cappi says he coined the moniker back in 1988, when a new development of six townhouses was being built.

"We were trying to come up with a marketing edge for what was this no-man's-land. Something with pizzazz. It still took a couple of years for it to stick."

Many homes in Greenwood Heights are attached two- to three-story row houses.

"Many of these properties were originally built as homes for the dock workers and other working-class," says Corcoran senior associate Tim Stanard. "Therefore, they're not as ornate or grand as brownstones in Park Slope."

These homes are usually 16 feet to 20 feet wide and sit on 100-foot lots. Details can include hardwood floors, tin ceilings, fireplaces and moldings. While some of these homes start around $550,000, the nicer and better-located ones can run about $1 million.

"The closer you are to the Slope, the higher the price," says Brooklyn Properties broker Ilene Levenson. "And you pay less for a fixer-upper that still has vinyl siding than you would for something that's been redone and modernized."

Those looking to rent in Greenwood Heights can expect to pay $1,200 to $1,600 a month for a floor-through with 600 to 900 square feet.

There are a lot of older Italian and Polish families that have been in Greenwood Heights for many generations. Until recently, there hasn't been heavy turnover of homes.

"Many people joke and say that they and their families will stay in the neighborhood until they cross the street [to the cemetery]," says 50-year-old Gerard Lockwood, who was born and raised in the area and operates a 100-year-old funeral parlor.

Greenwood Heights also has a significant Latino population, with many Mexican and South American restaurants in the area.

"I love the fact that it's an ethnically diverse neighborhood," says 39-year-old children's book illustrator Sergio Ruzzier, who along with his 6-year-old daughter rents a floor-through for $1,300.

Jessica Fadem and her 8-year-old son have been living in an early 1900s two-family brick house in Greenwood Heights for a year and a half.

The neighborhood "has an old New York feel to it," says Fadem, a pilates instructor who's studying to be a homeopath. "Kids play in the street and people sit on their stoops. People look out for each other. During the last snowstorm, my neighbors shoveled for me."

Things, though, could be changing in the area.

"There is a yuppie contingency coming in," says Massey Knakal director of sales Lawrence Sarn.

Developers have discovered the area and are buying every property they can get their hands on. "There are new buildings everywhere," Ruzzier says. "I can see three from my window. This neighborhood doesn't have a distinct architectural identity, but still they all seem very out of place."

And more new apartments are on their way.

"There will be well over 300 new luxury condo and rental units within the next year," says graphic designer Aaron Brashear, who along with his wife, Mic Holwin, co-founded the Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights.

Legal secretary Monica Staben had never even heard of Greenwood Heights before she moved there six years ago.

"Back then I had no idea developers were going to completely invade the area," she says.

One of the numerous new developments is the Highpoint Condominiums at 19th Street and Seventh Avenue (see sidebar). The six-story elevator building will open in early summer.

Neighborhood lifer Lockwood, for one, likes the new faces: "It's nice to see all the young people and especially families in the restaurants and on the streets."

But the area still isn't Park Slope. "It doesn't have a lot of amenities," Cappi says. "And there is no bar hopping."

Brashear notes that Greenwood Heights is "not at the hipster stage yet, but I do eventually see that happening. I just hope we don't have total gentrification like Williamsburg."

ELEVATED LIVING

GREENWOOD Heights is home to the highest elevated point in Brooklyn. So why not call a new residential development the Highpoint Condos? Located at 560 Seventh Ave., the building features 10 two-bedroom, 1,132-square-foot units ranging from $560,625 to $635,500 and a single one-bedroom, 770-square-foot unit for $398,750. The building also features six parking spaces selling for $20,000 each.

The views of the harbor and the Manhattan skyline are a big perk of living in this neighborhood, so every two-bedroom unit here features its own private balcony. The building also has a common roof deck.

More info: (718) 857-2525 or www.brooklynproperties.com

Two-family: $775,000

One-bedroom over three-bedroom with eat-in kitchens, finished basement and garden. Agent: Rocco Ferraro, Park Terrace Properties, (718) 369-1700.

Three-family: $899,000

Three-bedroom over three-bedroom over two-bedrooms with basement. Agent: Antoinette La-Hage, Park Terrace Properties, (718) 369-1700.

Two-family: $719,000

Three-floor townhouse, 1,652 square feet with marble mantles, wood floors and pool. Agent: Robert Krieger, the Corcoran Group, (718) 832-4152.

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