It’s impossible to walk around the neighborhood without seeing some new monstrous apartment building or restaurant. But, we wanted to know, does Bushwick really have more new buildings popping up than other neighborhoods? Now, we have our answer. And it’s terrifying.
Data from the Department of Buildings confirms that last year Bushwick had the highest rate of new buildings per square mile in all of Brooklyn.
In 2017, Bushwick saw an astounding 34 newly completed buildings per square mile, the highest rate of all the community districts in Brooklyn. That’s almost three times the rate for Brooklyn overall, which had an average of 12 buildings per square mile.
Bushwick had a total of 67 new buildings last year, and that doesn’t even account for buildings currently under construction. This is on par with the number of new buildings the neighborhood has seen over the past few years. In 2013 and 2014, Bushwick only had around 30 new buildings per year. But, in 2015, that jumped to over 60 new buildings, and it’s stayed at that same rate since then.
This is according to data that captures the Certificates of Occupancy (CO) issued by the Department of Buildings. Anytime a new building is constructed, the owner has to obtain CO. It’s one of the final steps of the development process, and basically means that the DOB has given the building a stamp of approval that it’s ready for people to use. Most buildings, whether they are residential or commercial, need one in order to operate legally.
So, that’s your Bushwick fact of the week. Have a question about the neighborhood that you want us to try and answer using data? Leave a comment below!
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Cover image courtesy of Ben White