Park Slope Gets The Times’ “Living In” Treatment

The Gray Lady takes a look at what it’s like to live in Park Slope this week, telling those of us who love it what we already know — that it’s a comparatively tight-knit community where people love to settle in with families, where the price of real estate has grown in leaps and bounds.

The real estate piece in the New York Times today doesn’t sugar-coat the fact that prices are high and competitive. Corcoran tells them that “houses typically sell within 30 days, at or above asking price,” which averages about $2,755,000 for a single-family townhouse (an increase of 26 percent last year), while their data places two-bedroom co-ops at around $930 per square foot, about a 16 percent increase from 2013.

As for what it’s like to live here if you can afford it at this point, neighbor Kate Singh summed up the general vibe of the area:

“It’s got a real small-town feel,” she said. “On my walk to school with the kids, I know so many people from all different parts of my life: people I know as a teacher, small vendors, real estate people and the parents of my children’s friends.” But if, as some residents say, Park Slope has a “Sesame Street” atmosphere, the area’s rents have risen high enough to push out many mom-and-pop shop owners of Mr. Hooper’s ilk. Seventh Avenue abounds with banks and with real estate offices that have windows full of pricey listings reflecting the neighborhood back on itself. On Union Street, the Tea Lounge, a popular bourgeois-bohemian hangout, recently shuttered.

Also of note: the “Norman Rockwell wholesomeness” of the annual Little League Opening Day parade, an expected shout-out for the popular PS 321, and though they mention the F train, there’s no warning about how crummy it can be.

Did you read the piece? If you were writing it up, what are some key features about the neighborhood that you would have included?