Brooklyn is one of the most popular and densest boroughs in New York City. Yet, it is the northern neighborhood of Brooklyn called Bushwick that is attracting young people to live there. There has been a clear change socially and economically within this new, edgy community. Bushwick’s rising popularity in housing and culture is grabbing the attention of millennials.
Pre-Millennial Community
Prior to millennials moving into Bushwick, this sub-borough was predominantly a working-class community. The Puerto Rican and Dominican population are still the majority of the community’s residents. This is due to the mass migration of immigrants during the WWII period.
Brooklyn was also known as the beer capital of the United States back in the early 1900s. You will find “Brewers’ Row” to no longer be active but soon-to-be apartment complexes to house the increase in demand of potential residents. The state of New York and the city also launched a program in the early 2000s called the Bushwick Initiative. This initiative was designed to revitalize the community to lower crime rate and improve the housing market. The program was credited with sparking the change in the community.
The Attraction
Many young people find that Bushwick is becoming the heart of NYC creativity, art, and community. Artists specifically are finding the neighborhood to be a vibrant and eccentric place that has become the essence of that classic, pure New York energy that people know from the city. The buildings seem to be glowing with neon colors and energy from the street art.
Bushwick is also able to give artists, entrepreneurs, and just creative people reasonable housing prices. Even if you are not a millennial looking for low rent prices, potential home buyers are seeing that Bushwick may be one of the few places where you can purchase a two-family row house for under $1.5 million.
The newly renovated St. Mark’s church has just recently debuted one bedroom studio apartments starting at $822 a month. This building is only the start of a larger plan to create more affordable housing within the community. These low-rent apartments are giving young people a real incentive to truly pick up and move to Bushwick as quickly as possible.
The Change
From the growth of trendy coffee shops and art galleries, Bushwick is definitely a place that is growing in culture and even more in housing. Bushwick’s strong artsy, community appeal is quite strong for young people but it is attracting more than just millennials. This small 1.3 square mile neighborhood has become so popular it now even has a well-known blog dedicated to their news and events at bushwickdaily.com. It is attracting young families and people who can no longer afford the rising price of living in other New York boroughs.