Check Out Red Hook From Above

Red Hook's Chris Curen sent us this photo of his neighborhood as viewed from a great vantage point. While we've featured some shots of Red Hook and its waterfront before, this photo shows the expanse of the Red Hook Houses, which cover a significant amount of land in the neighborhood. This photo gives a sense of exactly how big the complex is.

While we're on the topic of Red Hook, the new Real Deal has an interesting story on that whole neigbhorhood "hotness" thing that we've poked some fun at from time to time. The story says that there isn't that much buying up of Red Hook going on because there isn't that much to buy up:

Despite hype about the neighborhood being oh-so-hip, a lack of inventory is discouraging buyers. Yet brokers are still hopeful that new projects in the area may help turn the tide...But there are also several obstacles to Red Hook's renaissance. Most of the neighborhood is zoned for industrial, manufacturing, transportation and utility usage. The housing supply for buyers is low, and that won't change without modifications to zoning laws. This would require various interest groups and politicians to agree on the future composition of Red Hook -- a task that has been left unfinished for the last 20 years.

We're almost afraid of what would happen to Red Hook in a rezoning, given the way the city has treated the neighborhood with something verging on callous disregard in the past. The forces that will be set in motion when the 800 pound gorilla--the waterfront Ikea--enters the room, remain to be seen.