Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn

Greenwood Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that takes part of its name from the neighborhood proximity to the Green-Wood Cemetery. The much-debated borders are, roughly, the Prospect Expressway to the north, Third Avenue to the west, Eighth Avenue to the east and 36th Street to the south (southern boundary of The Green-Wood Cemetery).

A mixed neighborhood of working class Polish-American and Italian-American families, South American and Mexican immigrants, and middle class Brooklynites who have relocated from other higher-priced neighborhoods, Greenwood Heights' architectural mix of wood frame and brick homes gives the area an eclectic look and feel, different from its neighbors Park Slope to the north and Sunset Park to the south.

Recent new real estate development, curbed with the rezoning of the area in November 2005, has brought an influx of luxury condominium apartments into a residential area that was mainly made up of one- and two-family homes. Post-rezoning, while new development sites have occurred, there has been a trend of home renovations (many of them "gut renovations"), taking many of the neglected circa-1900 wood frame homes and restoring them to their turn-of-the-century historical look.

One of the sites of the sprawling Battle of Brooklyn (Battle of Long Island) in August of 1776, the area is steeped in a rich history, from its identity as a pivotal battle site in the American Revolutionary War to its famous residents of Green-Wood Cemetery to its history of families working the once vibrant Brooklyn waterfront.

Greenwood Heights is a part of Brooklyn Community Board 7, along with Windsor Terrace, Sunset Park and South Park Slope.