LIC vs DoBro: LIC lacks amenities? You don’t say…

I’ve been reading the Streeteasy message boards about LIC. Interesting stuff. One thread was a throwdown between LIC and Downtown Brooklyn (newly dubbed as DoBro). DoBro won on the amenities, since LIC’s $/sqft for luxury condos seems to be in about the same range. YES. DoBro should win on the amenities, but is that all a neighborhood comes down to? LIC never was, will be, or wants to be Downtown Brooklyn. LIC’s an industrial neighborhood that’s been heavily rezoned and introducing the largest influx of residents in its history. DoBro, while it was and is a major commercial district, was not primarily an industrial hub and has a totally different aesthetic. It also has the Fulton Mall.

Bottom-line. If you don’t like an industrial aesthetic, don’t move to LIC. Even though, as some message board posters stated, the look of the new condos conjures up visions of Hoboken or Houston (?), the existing and surrounding aesthetic is primarily INDUSTRIAL. These were factories, people. Big, gigantic, fuel dumping factories. (Is there residual toxic pollution? YES. But that’s for another post.)

LIC’s amenities are lacking if you consider the $/sqft on a lot of the new luxury condos. Most of the marketing seems to be aimed at the convenience of Manhattan commuting, which is wise since it’s LIC’s strong point as a marketable neighborhood for new development. But amenities will always show up if the people do. Look at any neighborhood where there was a major influx of residents into a primarily industrial neighborhood. SoHo. Tribeca. Are there amenities there? I’ll let you answer that for yourself.