Brownstoner's Top 10 Stories of 2017: Affordable Housing, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Matt Damon

Well, readers, the time has come — another year is winding down, which means we’re looking back through everything Brownstoner has published in 2017 and finding our most popular stories. Affordable housing lotteries in Downtown Brooklyn, Bushwick, and East New York; news about the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Matt Damon’s arrival in Brooklyn Heights hit a chord with readers.

Below, click through to find our top 10 stories of the year, and let us know: What was your favorite?

10. Brooklyn’s Second Apple Store to Open in Fort Greene Next Weekend

We’ve been hearing that construction crews were moving at rapid speed over the past few weeks, so it makes sense that an announcement was made this morning that the Apple Store at 300 Ashland Place in Fort Greene will open Saturday, December 2.

9. Actor Matt Damon Snaps Up Splashy Penthouse in Superman’s Brooklyn Heights Building

Actor Matt Damon is in contract to buy a penthouse condo in The Standish, at 171 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn Heights, according to the Wall Street Journal. If the deal closes for the asking of $16.645 million, it will set a new record for real estate in the borough.

8. Slave Theater Demolished as Bed Stuy Icon Makes Way for Mixed-Use Development

The site of the Slave Theater, an icon in Bed Stuy whose sale and planned development has been the subject of many protests in the community, is inching closer to its newest iteration.

7. 5 Upstate Bungalow Colonies Offer an Inexpensive Summer Escape From the City

While bungalow communities reached their peak of popularity in the 1950s there are still some around that offer a relaxed, communal summer experience for weary New Yorkers.

6. Historic Clinton Hill Mansion, One-Time Civil War Veterans’ Spot, Coming Down for Apartments

A curious survivor, a freestanding Second Empire mansion at 489 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill, will soon vanish, to be replaced by an apartment building.

5. East New York Affordable Housing Lottery Opens, Units Start at $788 a Month

A lottery has opened for another East New York affordable housing development — the second in the neighborhood this summer alone — which will bring 191 newly constructed, affordable units to the area.

4. Lottery Opens for Bushwick Church Site With Affordable Units Starting at $822 a Month

An affordable housing lottery has opened for 20 units in a development that is part of the former St. Mark’s Lutheran School and Evangelical Church at 616 Bushwick Avenue in Bushwick.

3. Affordable Housing Lottery Opens in Downtown Brooklyn With Studios Starting at $897

Affordable units starting at $897 a month are now up for grabs in the big glassy building going up at 33 Bond Street in Downtown Brooklyn where a huge block-long parking garage stood for years.

2. A Not-So-Secret Jehovah’s Witnesses Underground Tunnel in Brooklyn Heights Is No More!

At least one branch of Brooklyn Heights’ not-so-secret tunnels is gone. For years, four private underground tunnels have connected numerous Jehovah’s Witnesses buildings in the neighborhood.

1. Private-Equity Firm Buys Jehovah’s Witnesses’ 21 Clark Street for $200 Million, Plans Senior Housing

One type of very expensive housing that’s hard to find in prime Brooklyn: Assisted living.

Related Stories

• Gentrification, High Prices, Beautiful Spaces and Celebs: 2016’s Top Stories on Brownstoner
• Gentrification, Mega-Projects and Bonkers Home Sales: Brownstoner’s Top Stories of 2015
• Year in Review: Biggest Stories of 2014

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