Ditmas Park’s Main Street could be rising.
A single-story warehouse on Cortelyou Road at Stratford Road sold for $2 million in cold, hard cash last week, opening the way for a seven-floor residential building with shops on the ground floor. Public records for the sale are not yet available and Massey Knakal, which brokered the deal, is not saying who the new owners are or what they plan to do, leaving one neighbor worried an ugly, corporate overhaul could be in store.
“I hope they put something up that is tasteful,” said Susan Seigel, co-owner of the gift shop Brooklyn Artery, next door to the warehouse, and former executive director of the Flatbush Development Corporation. “The owners have to consider the neighborhood. Many landlords do, but some are there to make money.”
The commercial strip between E. 17th Street and Coney Island Avenue has seen an influx of up-scale restaurants and stores, along with chain outlets such as Connecticut Muffin and Dunkin Donuts, over the past decade. Siegel said she recently planned to move her business into another Cortelyou storefront between Argyle and Westminster roads only to see the space scooped up by a Domino’s Pizza franchise, which is set to open in February as the first chain on that block.
She hopes a similar fate does not befall the warehouse, which was home to a rarely-open antique store. In its current form, the building could house three storefronts or one big commercial space.
Most of the buildings along the drag are three- or four- stories tall and the tallest is six stories. The broker who handled the sale said he would be surprised if the new owner built higher than four stories.
“That is highly unlikely,” said realtor Nick Mahedy.
Photo by Elizabeth Graham
