Bay Ridge slowly follows Brooklyn’s gentrification blueprint — drawing younger buyers

Unlike many of its Brooklyn neighborhoods, Bay Ridge has experienced a more gradual gentrification. While the pace is quickening, the waterfront neighborhood deeper in Brooklyn still retains some of its old charm, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Though the area is primarily home to Irish, Italian and Scandinavian families that have lived there for generations, younger buyers priced out of their first-choice Brooklyn neighborhoods have begun to descend upon Bay Ridge.

“The biggest draw for newcomers is the tremendous amount of quality housing stock that runs the gamut,” Claire Saliba, a broker with Corcoran Group, told the Journal. She listed at least five different housing types common in the area.

Of course, new business are following in the footsteps of the Italian establishments and Irish sports bars. In the last year, the Owl’s Head Wine Bar Opened On Fifth Avenue, while a fine arts school and gallery for kids opened, a surfer taco joint, Ho’Brah, and a forthcoming Italian grocer are coming to Third Avenue. Combined with a growing Middle Eastern population and an increase in young families, whose kids are forcing new school construction, these new establishments are providing a changing face to the Brooklyn enclave. [WSJ] — Adam Fusfeld