The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the neighborhood increased 36 percent in 2011, according to a rental market report by a brokerage firm, and two-bedroom apartments renovated with luxury touches now start at around $1,800 per month, a local real estate agent said.

Three new apartment buildings are either fully rented or sold. A one-family town house just off Franklin Avenue was listed at nearly $1.1 million recently, a sum that no one could have begged for, let alone asked, two decades ago.

With a heavier police presence along Franklin Avenue, crime has dropped significantly in the past decade, but is still an issue, and some black business owners say they have been harassed by the police. And, some of those owners said, the influx of newcomers has not translated into more customers.

“I thought I would be doing a lot better being so close to the subway, but new people rotate in and out of the neighborhood,” said Conrad Hunter, 36, the owner of JamRock Kitchen. Many of his target customers — West Indian and Caribbean residents — are leaving the neighborhood. “You’re just floating to keep your head over water,” he said. “Is it bringing new revenue? It’s not.”

Martha Williams, 65, who has lived in her building on Lincoln Place for 31 years, scoffs at how the “kids” in the renovated apartments have so little trust that they put four locks on their doors. She is resigned to the changes, saying she has seen it all: “Good, bad and indifferent.”

A corner grocery at Lincoln Place and Franklin where Ms. Williams shops, Bob and Betty’s, is now selling organic food, mostly to young newcomers, and giving away cardboard boxes to older residents moving out. Tony Fisher, who took over the store his father, Bob, opened 31 years ago, remembers when holdups on the block were routine. While thrilled with the change, he is also a bit resentful.