Park Slope condo boom leads to overcrowding at coveted P.S. 321

Park Slope’s sought-after P.S. 321 is 117 percent over capacity, meaning parents who bought real estate in the neighborhood — for between $6 and $19 higher per square foot than they would have in the nearby areas outside the school’s zone — are beginning to worry that their investments won’t guarantee their children a seat. The boom in enrollment at one of the city’s most desired public elementary schools was bolstered by the recent condominium boom on Fourth Avenue, where a 2003 rezoning led to hundreds of new apartments, and consequently, children who now live in them, according to the Wall Street Journal. The school currently has 1,300 students. But as the city moves forward with plans to add 3,000 seats in nearby District 15 and to open a new 935-student school at 610 Baltic Street, homeowners in the area fear that their children could soon be subject to a waitlist, lottery or worse, get rezoned. A rezoning, brokers say, would affect not only young students, but also their parents’ property values. [WSJ]