The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Sunday Stroll, Part Duh. The Remake of a Neighborhood

So much construction! So little time before the next meltdown! Hurry, hurry, fellas. Gotta get in while the gettin's good! A few more shots from within spittin' distance of the Q's abode.

An obvious spot to tear down and build up. Can't see this lowrise and parking lot lasting.

Looks Like The New Building on Bedford Is About To (literally) Swallow Those Old Victorians

More New Apartments on Bedford Where Houses Used to Was


This One's Truly Sad - The Beautiful Old Age Home at 123 Linden About to Be Demolished

During construction of the new apts at 123 Linden, you'll be able to see the nursing home behind it for a change
Since 123 is/was a tremendous asset to the neighborhood, a little more background is in order. Here's a Brownstoner piece on the building by the beloved Montrose Morris. And below a picture of the before, and if you want to know about the 20 (that's right TWENTY) story building to take its place, read on.

I really didn't see this one coming. After speaking to folks at the Nursing Home, sounds like it was a financial necessity.

Just over on the next block towards Flatbush, don't forget this is coming:


I honestly don't think people have the slightest idea what's happening to the neighborhood all around us. This painfully slow process of waking up to the new reality just boggles my mind. I've let it go - sort of. I see that's there's no political will to rezone anything, anywhere, in any of the three community districts close to our homes. But there it is.

One can only hope that the neighborhood doesn't become littered with the below sorts of vacant lots, if and when the money dries up.

Yeeeeehawwwww! Land, land, land and lots of it.

Looks like nearly every new building in the nabe is preparing for a fencing match


They call 'em soft sites. This large lot with the Ideal Supermarket won't survive longterm

6 comments:

Dave 'Paco' Abraham said...

Wow. That is one jaw dropping walk. You say there is "no political will to rezone anything." Any idea if the new candidates challenging the city councilman feel the same? Would be good to hear how Pia Raymond and Brian Cunningham think they'd tackle this issue that is bulldozing the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

One can only hope that the neighborhood doesn't become littered with the below sorts of vacant lots, if and when the money dries up.

That's funny. It was in the mid-1950s that Robert Moses told Walter O'Malley that he couldn't have the land at the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic for a new Dodger baseball stadium. He said the city had more important plans for it than that. And after 50 years of nothing happening, decades after Moses was dead, the Barclays Arena arrived.

Jeffrey Jones said...

Also, King's County Nursery is now being offered on the Douglas Elliman site. https://www.elliman.com/new-york-city/625-new-york-avenue-brooklyn-guxjgbo

Anonymous said...

I know I *might* have an unpopular opinion, but if this means one less nail salon or one less 99 cent store, then I'm all for it.

Jacob said...

The nail salons are doing fine. There are plenty of storefronts to have both 99 cent stores, nail salons, and many other businesses. It's not either or.

babs said...

The Barclays'/Atlantic Yards site wasn't vacant - there were houses, rental apartment buildings, and condominiums on that site, including the former Spalding factory, which had been converted to condos as well. Also, this was also the site of the Underberg building (supermarket equipment, supplies, and provisions), immortalized in Jonathan Lethem's novel Fortress of Solitude. Farther down on this site was also the beautiful terra-cotta Ward's bakery. http://forgotten-ny.com/2005/12/before-ratnerville-preceding-barclays-center/

Walter O'Malley didn't want to build there, he wanted to build on the other side of Atlantic, where the Atlantic Terminal mall now sits (and where the City liteerally let the old LI RR terminal collapse). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_domed_Brooklyn_Dodgers_stadium

O'Malley may have been scum to take the Dodgers away from Brooklyn, but he wasn't a heartless real estate developer like Bruce Ratner, putting people out of their homes to build his crap, and lying about the affordable housing component.