Many are familiar with the Brooklyn community of Bedford-Stuyvesant, but far fewer are aware of Ocean Hill.  Ocean Hill is a sub-community within Bedford-Stuyvesant, and it is one of Brooklyn’s best kept secrets.  An exciting, emerging neighborhood, Ocean Hill is quickly and quietly becoming one of the most ideal places to live in Brooklyn.

Ocean Hill’s development is largely due to an influx of multicultural professionals into the area over the course of the past few years.  Asian, Hispanic, White, and Black professionals have all begun to settle in Ocean Hill, bringing with them a wide range of backgrounds and cultures as well as significant amounts of wealth.  This diversity and this money have had a great effect on the neighborhood, transforming it by attracting a greater variety of stores and restaurants, both upscale and affordable, independent and chain.  Residents’ consumer options have drastically increased.

Additionally, the increasing prosperity of Ocean Hill has had an amazingly beneficial effect on the crime rate in the area.  The crime rate remained dangerously high from the 1960s all the way until the turn of the century, but since then it has now dropped sharply and remained low.  In fact, the current crime rate for Ocean Hill is the lowest ever recorded in its history.

Largely, the arrival of these professionals has been instigated by the fact that Ocean Hill enjoys all of the same perks and privileges of Bedford-Stuyvesant but features noticeably lower rent prices.  These benefits include excellent transportation services (Ocean Hill is served by the A, C, J, and Z subway lines, and is very near the Long Island Railroad’s East New York Station) and the rich historical, cultural atmosphere of Bedford Stuyvesant, a community which has given rise to a tremendous number of important artists, musicians, actors, and athletes such as Jay-Z, Spike Lee, the Notorious B.I.G., Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock, Mike Tyson, and many other notable figures.

Ocean Hill also offers access to a large number of schools and houses of worship.  The majority of the schools within Ocean Hill are public, but just outside, in other parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant and elsewhere, are a number of private, charter, and parochial schools.  And churches are extremely commonplace, serving many different denominations.

Undoubtedly one of the most up-and-coming neighborhoods in all of New York, Ocean Hill represents an opportunity for families and individuals to establish themselves in a thriving community without draining your savings.