When the invitation for a private tour landed in my inbox, I was swarmed by a well-mixed cocktail of contradictory emotion. Colony 1209, a new apartment building in Bushwick arrived at the scene with a big bang very recently, and quickly earned itself a label of the most controversial building in Bushwick. Not only does the name of the building lend itself to the comparison of gentrification with colonization but also the building is marketed by the real estate brokers aptsandlofts.com as ” Modern residences in a vibrant industrial setting…re-imagined through artful eyes in NYC’s new ‘IT’ neighborhood Bohemian Bushwick, Brooklyn.” The language on their website continues: “Here you’ll find a group of like-minded settlers, mixing the customs of their original homeland with those of one of NYC’s most historic neighborhoods to create art, community, and a new lifestyle. Let’s Homestead, Bushwick-style.” Media have been wondering about the choice of words like “settlers” and “homestead,” interpreting it mostly as offensive – but then again, real estate lingo is rarely pleasing to the existing Bushwick community.