OUTLOOK

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 summer 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.

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.

— Profile from the March 10, 2003 cover story of New York Magazine