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also attempt to do the impossible: to give
an objective perspective on the eternally
subjective issue of cool.
What is a Cool Street?
The cycle of growth, decay and rebirth in
our cities is nothing new. Macro trends such
as the rise of the suburbs in the 1960's, new
urbanism in the 2010's, or countless waves
of immigration over the past couple of
hundred years have impacted and sped
those timetables along. However, at the
neighborhood level, real estate costs have
always been the primary force driving this
cycle. That has not changed and it never
will. But while neighborhood amenities,
particularly cultural ones, have always
played a role in urban renewal efforts, many
neighborhoods have gone through such
transformations without the issue of
“hipness” ever entering into the discussion.
Most great cities have had their traditional
bohemian enclaves where literature, the arts,
and culture (or counter-culture) have
flourished. But the rise and fall of those
neighborhoods typically was slow, organic
and non-commercial. It was more likely to be
driven by philosophical or intellectual
movements than by any sort of demographic
trend. And while these neighborhoods
tended to attract unique niche subcultures,
their appeal rarely carried over to the
mainstream. This is where the current Cool
Streets trend differs. Hip neighborhoods are
now a mainstream aspiration.
The Cool Street Cycle:
From Edgy to Prime Hipness
to Mainstream
The pattern of urban renewal has not
changed much over the past 50 years; a
neighborhood endures a period of neglect,
rising crime and social ills drive home values
down, cheap real estate eventually lures
new residents, and the neighborhood
stabilizes and then rebounds as additional
waves of residents and new businesses
move in. Historically, this process often took
decades. What also might be most different
about the current Cool Street trend is the
sheer speed with which a neighborhood can
reinvent itself. Some of the Cool Street
neighborhoods in our report have moved
from “troubled” to “prime hipness” in a
matter of just a few years. Likewise, the path
from “prime hipness” to “gone mainstream”
has never been shorter. Just ask the former
hipster residents of Williamsburg.
Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood
might be the poster child for the current
Cool Streets movement. Through the 1990's,
it was a mostly working class immigrant
community that struggled with varying
degrees of neglect and urban decay over
the previous four decades. While Manhattan
apartment rents consistently grew at an
annual rate of 10% or more from 1995 to
2000, rates remained relatively flat in
Williamsburg. In fact, housing costs there
typically averaged anywhere from one third
to one half of those across the East River.
On paper the trends were a world apart, not
just the reality of one subway stop.
Cool Streets are serving
as an incubator of sorts
for what will likely be the
hottest new retail concepts
of tomorrow...
THE COOL STREETS OF NORTH AMERICA
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CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD