Williamsburg rents now too high for art gallery that helped nabe gentrify

A popular Williamsburg art gallery that was among the first signs of gentrification on Havemeyer Street when it opened up shop six years ago has since been priced out of the neighborhood itself. According to the Brooklyn Paper, Cinders Gallery, which is located on the corner of Hope Street, is shuttering and looking for new, cheaper space after its landlord decided to increase the ground-floor rent by $1,000 per month, beginning Jan. 1. More than a dozen restaurants and bars have popped up in recent years in the four blocks surrounding Cinders, which has featured numerous local and out-of-town painters and illustrators, and retail rents have risen as a consequence. Cinders’ owner wouldn’t say what she is currently paying in rent, but a neighborhood broker said a similar space nearby commands $2,500 per month. The gallery, meanwhile, has applied for non-profit status and is looking into other permanent spaces in Williamsburg or Greenpoint, as well as temporary exhibition spaces in Northern Brooklyn warehouses. [Brooklyn Paper]