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were gentrifying

  • past progressive
    of gentrify.
    gentrify
    verb (used with object)
    to alter (a deteriorated urban neighborhood) through the buying and renovation of houses and stores by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, raising property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.

Example Sentences

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His constituents included business executives, socialites and lobbyists; gays who were gentrifying Dupont Circle; and African Americans who had lived in the rowhouses and apartment buildings east of Logan Circle for generations.

From Washington Post Jan. 6, 2020

Do you think those protestors were anti-gay, or were they just mad that Taylor and all of her friends were gentrifying their trailer park?

From Slate Jun. 17, 2019

And yet parts of the neighborhood were solidly working-class, and the edges of the neighborhood were gentrifying.

From New York Times Oct. 10, 2018

The galleries were gentrifying the neighborhood, and the community, many Turks later told reporters, felt encroached upon and left out.

From New York Times Feb. 10, 2012