After more than six months on the market, Sunset Park’s historic Rainbow Cafe has been sold. CPEX Real Estate released the news today that the building at 3904 Fifth Ave.  has been sold “to a local investor” for $1,650,000.

For 30 years home to a family owned bar and retaurant, the Cafe shuttered after its owner passed away last year. BestViewInBrooklyn noted the closure last June. It went on the market soon after; the nearly 9,000 square foot building on 39th Street and Fifth Avenue, which includes four units of housing over the cafe, was listed for $3,250,000. Despite news that real estate is looking up, it seems properties at Sunset Park are still going at bargain-basement prices. Anyone know who that “local investor” might be? Leave a comment or drop a line to sunsetparkchron@gmail.com.

Finished, refurbished or just breaking ground, you can spot condominiums of all shapes and sizes around Sunset Park.

New buyers are moving in, a trend welcome or unhappy depending on who you ask. Either way, the phenomenon has come to South Brooklyn. An article in the real estate section of today’s New York Times gives a comprehensive view of condo-buying. Though meant for those on the market, it offers insight for others simply looking for an explanation about the trend, as well as the pros, cons and state of the market in a city where price-per-square foot has proven as riveting as the cost of oil.

Interested in the shifting market closer to home? Check out this article on issues of affordable housing in Sunset Park.

For 13 years the Vazquez family has watched Sunset Park change from the window of their three-bedroom apartment on 55^th Street. This year, the shifting tides of New York real estate hit home.

Developer Galla Condominiums recently bought and converted to condominiums a dozen apartments in the 16-unit building at 546 55^th Street where Carmen and Alex Vazquez live with their children. Each unit that goes up for sale marks one less rent-stabilized apartment in a neighborhood where such units are scarce.

As the number of rent stabilized units dwindle, long term residents find themselves living surrounded by housing that rents and sells at rates far beyond what many longtime and new immigrant residents in this working-class neighborhood can afford. Read the full story