Getting on the Map in Gowanus

We’ve always known what a great place Gowanus is, but now it seems that others are following suit. History of made this year when a property in Gowanus sold for….$3 million! The five story house is located on Bond Street and has a three car garage and a heated pool.

EPA Clean-Up Plans

What makes it remarkable is that it’s just a block from the Gowanus Canal, which we all know has been under the microscope by the Environmental Protection Agency and called one of the most toxic bodies of water in the country.

While the clean-up of the Canal, as a result of the EPA’s classification of Gowanus as a Superfund site, will take at least a decade, it’s started to pave the way for the spotlight which is on our humble neighborhood.

Here’s a quick run-down of the many new businesses coming our way and the good things to come for Gowanus.

Whole Foods: Whole Foods will be opening a 56,000 square foot store on Third Street and Third Avenue in 2012.

Restaurants: Many new restaurants are popping up in the area including The Crooked Tail, Crop to Cup and others. Four & Twenty Blackbirds specializes in unusual pies and actually caters to cyclists by offering locks and emergency equipment. Monte’s Venetian Room actually reopened after closing in 2008.

Adventure Sites: Brooklyn Boulders is an indoor rock-climbing center and Cut Brooklyn is a custom knife store owned by Joel Bukiewicz.

Hotels: Hotels are getting into the act as well. The Union Hotel on Degraw Street opened in March and became the third hotel to open in the area in two years.

A tide of hotels has also washed in. In March, the 43-room Union Hotel, on Degraw Street, became the third to open in two years. It is also one of the few in the borough with a rooftop bar. At least four more hotels are planned.

Replacing Manhattan

As James Cornell, senior vice president, Brooklyn, for the Corcoran Group, said, “We are beginning to see tourists with their backpacks hitting the streets of Gowanus. We never would have predicted it, but it’s a less expensive alternative to Manhattan.”