FORT GREENE & CLINTON HILL

THE BASICS: In landmark Fort Greene, you’ll find graceful houses with lots of period detail along Cumberland, South Portland, and South Oxford Streets—and a lot of strollers: “Fort Greene Park has been completely redone,” says resident Sandra Shepard. “You’ll find a lot of stay-at-home moms. It’s a not-so-rushed lifestyle out here.”

WHAT’S NEW: An old shoe factory on Taaffe Place houses large, beautifully renovated loft spaces right off the Pratt Institute campus. The Graham Home for Old Ladies in the 150-year-old building on Washington Avenue has been converted into 25 two- and three-bedroom condos. The Chocolate Factory on Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill has become high-end lofts. The Atlantic Terminal, a vast retail and business center, is set to be finished in spring 2004.

BARGAIN HUNTING: Anything between Myrtle and Park Avenues is cheaper than anything between Willoughby and Gates Avenues, the prime blocks. Reasonably priced one- and two-bedroom rentals can be found near Myrtle Avenue around the BQE.

HOT SPOTS: Great restaurants have sprung up on DeKalb Avenue: Madiba serves South African; Sol features sizzling Caribbean. For quaint French dining, mangez at Loulou. On Friday and Saturday nights, the Brooklyn Academy of Music offers “dinner and a movie,” which includes a prix fixe meal with tickets.

PREDICTION: The neighborhood was late to the nineties price boom, but it caught up quickly. Now that it’s been discovered, expect buyers to keep coming. Townhouses with rental income are at a premium, selling to Manhattanites who want gracious homes that they can’t quite afford on their own.