Edge of glory

Karen Goodwin and her boyfriend, Jean Claude Cancedda, are Clinton Hill converts. Before they moved in together, she lived in Park Slope and he was in Fort Greene.

When they opted to cohabitate about seven years ago, they chose Fort Greene. Goodwin says they liked the neighborhood “for the commute — I hated the F train — and there were too many strollers in Park Slope. I liked the vibe better in Fort Greene, I liked the diversity.”

While they wanted to stay as close to Fort Greene proper as possible, they were wooed by more space for less money farther east on Vanderbilt Avenue — the border between Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

Fulton Street Lofts just hit the market.

BIRD IS THE WORD: Hot Bird bar has indoor and outdoor space.

TAKE TWO: Since it returned to the market, the full-service Isabella has sold all of its three-bedroom condos, a testament to the number of families moving to the area. The only units still available are one- and two-bedrooms.

“At first I had serious reservations, I thought it was way too far,” Goodwin says. “But we ended up taking [the rental] anyway because it was a great deal and a great apartment.”

The two have now lived at four different addresses in the vicinity, each a little farther east than the last. At one point, the couple bought on Clinton Avenue. “I wanted to live some place that wasn’t already out of my price range,” Goodwin says. “Something that was up-and-coming so that I could make some money.”

A move into an up-and-coming area can mean compromises. Clinton Hill, with its gorgeous, mostly landmarked residential stock stretching down tree-lined and slate-sidewalked streets, is inexpensive compared to Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and even Fort Greene. (Apartments, even new ones, can be found for less than $500 a square foot there.)

But it has contended with high instances of crime. Plus, the southern part of the neighborhood, more removed from Fort Greene’s retail and restaurant-friendly Dekalb Avenue, has suffered through a dearth of conveniences.

For years, Fulton Street, the main retail corridor in south Clinton Hill, consisted of a handful of established businesses — Sister’s Community Hardware, a Met grocery store, the Senegalese restaurant Joloff — sprinkled among cell-phone dealers, dollar stores, empty lots and vacant retail spaces in mostly crumbling buildings. New spots opened sporadically — Olivino Wines, the Green Planet market — but mostly, residents were left to huff it north 15 minutes to Dekalb for a night out.

But now, and seemingly all at once, everything has started to change. In the last year, the area has seen the openings of Fulton Grand, Hanson Dry and Hot Bird, all bars; Mago, a creperie; and Cochinita, an authentic taco place. There’s Brooklyn Victory Garden, a specialty grocer selling organic meats and cheeses, and Bija, a yoga center for kids. To come is the anticipated Greene Hill Food Co-op, modeled on the one in Park Slope; also from Park Slope is Eladia’s Kids, childcare and preschool.