DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Downtown Brooklyn is set to welcome an influx of new residents.
More than 3,300 housing units are currently under construction in Downtown Brooklyn — 419 of which are affordable — and another 9,000 market-rate and 2,900 affordable units are in the planning stages for the neighborhood, according to a report recently released by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
The upcoming developments will bring more than two times as many new apartments to Downtown Brooklyn as the neighborhood saw during the previous six years.
Residents will begin moving in soon at 388 Bridge St., a 53-story high-rise, and hotly anticipated future projects include Avalon Bay on Willoughby Street and the second Oro residential building on Gold Street.
"We’ve known it all along, but in 2013, the rest of the world started to catch on to what a dynamic neighborhood Downtown Brooklyn has become," wrote Tucker Reed, president of the nonprofit development corporation. "As we near the 10-year anniversary of the rezoning of this great neighborhood, in June 2014, we expect there will be even more good news to share."
From 2006 to 2012, 6,500 new residential units were created in Downtown Brooklyn, the partnership's previous report noted.
The neighborhood's food, shopping, business and arts scene is also booming, according to the report.
The area gained 30 new shops and restaurants, 11 technology and creative companies moved in and more than 60,000 pieces of graffiti were removed, the report said.
The arts and media organization BRIC Arts opened in the renovated Strand Theater, and the Theater for a New Audience opened the Polonsky Shakespeare Center. Plans for a new library, Brooklyn Academy of Music cinema and 651 Arts rehearsal space also took shape last year, the report said.
Other milestones for the area include 500 plants and 72 tree guards added to Flatbush Avenue, plus a new public plaza on Willoughby Avenue.
