Business & Tech

Jeffries Applauds Realty Company for Correcting Boundary

Real estate agency moves Prospect Heights' eastern border back to Washington Avenue

An area pol has won a major victory in his personal “Pro-Cro” war.

Ever since it came out that real estate agents have been calling the swath between Washington Avenue and Bedford Avenue “Pro-Cro” or just deeming it part of Prospect Heights, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries has .

And today, he announced that Corcoran, one of the city’s biggest real estate agencies, has agreed to stop marketing properties in that area as being in Prospect Heights and instead list them in Crown Heights.

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“The borders of New York City's neighborhoods are often debated to the point of confusion.  We were happy to comply with Assemblyman Jeffries’ request and appreciate his efforts on behalf of his district,” said Corcoran CEO Pamela Liebman in a statement.

The company has changed the Crown Heights/Prospect Heights border on its website from Bedford Avenue back to Washington Avenue.

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The company made the change after Jeffries sent them a letter late last month charging fraud under the New York State Real Property Law (Sec. 441-c(a) of Article 12-A).

"In my view, this misrepresentation appears deliberately designed to artificially inflate housing prices in the Crown Heights community to the detriment of both working families who reside in the neighborhood and the prospective residents who are being deceived," said Assemblyman Jeffries in the letter. 

But while Corcoran has changed this border to appease Jeffries, it appears they haven’t made a boroughwide shift: They still list the border between Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy as Bedford Avenue instead of the traditional Classon Avenue, for example.

And he is continuing his fight. He plans to soon introduce legislation that would prevent New York City brokers from making up new neighborhood names and changing the boundaries in general.

Area residents said they were glad to be living in Crown Heights again.

"We know it as Crown Heights … All these years it's been Crown Heights and I feel it should stay that way, said Edith Brice, a retired home heath aide.

Shawn, a 29-year-old carpenter who didn't give his last name, agreed.

"There's pride in the area you're from, you don't want anybody stripping that away from you," he said.


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