Red Hook is ‘Dead Hook’

The New York Post ran an [interesting article today] backing up a Brooklyn Paper story [published last month](http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/28/30_28cryinginbeer.html) about how Red Hook is in the midst of a bit of a slump. Evidently, a slew of restaurants, bars and stores on Van Brunt Street have closed down this summer, including Pioneer Bar-B-Q and 360, leading many to wonder whether the neighborhood can sustain the services needed to keep high-rent residents around. John McGettrick of the Red Hook Civic Association told the paper that the area needs a larger population before the commercial strip resurges. Businesses, he said, had expected more foot traffic from residents of a now-stalled condo project and passengers debarking from a recently installed cruise-ship terminal who are typically whisked off to Manhattan before they can open their wallets.

Average real-estate prices in the [formerly working-class neighborhood ]have soared more than 30 percent in the past year alone to over $800,000 for a one-to-three-family home, but, according to the paper, its main drag now offers only two bars, two upscale restaurants, one wine shop and one bakery. The area also boasts a Fairway supermarket and will become [home to an IKEA next year](http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/brooklyn/2007/08/07/2007-08-07_emotions_soar_as_ikea_store_divides_nabe.html), leading to additional worries that the subway-deprived neighborhood will become over-run by traffic of the wrong kind. Poor little Red Hook.

Photo courtesy of [jjankechu on Flickr ]