Marine Parkers need to band together and turn their quaint neighborhood into an historic district before developers turn it into the next — gasp! — Sheepshead Bay!
That was kind of the claim longtime real-estate agent (yes, a real real-estate agent!) Jerry Minsky made on the latest edition of Brooklyn Paper Radio, during which host and editor-in-chief Vince DiMiceli looked southward to find out how the out-of-character Marine Park Monstrosity could have possibly been constructed in the 1930s-era neighborhood of tree-lined streets and homes with front yards and driveways.
And the Brooklyn-born Minsky, who’s been selling and renting homes here for more than 30 years and recently moved to Marine Park from his Fort Green brownstone (which he astutely bought in 1989, thank you very much), pulled no punches in claiming this over-development is surely a bad omen.
“This is a sign of slow but steady changes that will continue to happen,” Minsky, of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, said.
And the only way to save the Marine Park we all know and love is to have the city protect the neighborhood from overdevelopment by landmarking its beautiful one-and-two family homes — something Minsky said deserves consideration.
“Marine Park has enough continuity of original tudor townhouses built in the ’20s and ’30s to be certified an historic neighborhood,” he said.
Neighbors have already complained to reporter Adam Lucente, who was also on the show along with deputy editor Anthony Rotunno, that they fear Marine Park could soon start to look like overdeveloped Sheepshead Bay if something isn’t done soon, and DiMiceli hinted that the Monstrosity could be the lightning rod residents need to see the future — and change it, whether or not Sheepshead Bay is a bad place.
“It takes a lot to get people to organize and create an historic district,” DiMiceli said. “But tell me what’s wrong with Sheepshead Bay.”
Minsky said that like Marine Park and Fort Greene, the neighborhoods are now apples and oranges — even if he had a soft spot for the Sheepshead of his youth.
“There was a big dating scene going on over there,” he said.
The gentlemen failed to get into the ongoing battle over who has the best roast beef in Southern Brooklyn — Brennan and Carr or Roll ’n’ Roaster — but did dedicate an hour to what comes next in Marine Park.
So if you’ve got the time, we’ve got the podcast. Take a listen right now!
Brooklyn Paper Radio is recorded and podcast live every Tuesday at 3:30 pm — for your convenience — from our studio in America’s Downtown and can be found, as always, on Brook