The Brick Township home where ‘Jersey Shore’ producers sought to film.
This Brick Township home comes with a stunning view of Barnegat Bay, open space to the side and plenty of room to dock your boat. It also could have been the set of a reboot of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” had township officials not denied producers a permit.
The production company behind Jersey Shore, 495 Productions, requested a permit to film at the home, located at 49 Rochester Drive in the Seawood Harbor neighborhood. The home, currently listed for sale at $998,000, is “nestled in the middle of a protected bird sanctuary,” according to a realtor’s description, far different from the raucous nightclubs where the show’s cast members garnered fame across the country and derision from locals.
Brick Mayor John Ducey said the permit was denied primarily on the grounds that a full-on television production would have brought too much traffic to the tucked-away neighborhood south of Mandalay Road.
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“It’s a residential zone,” said Ducey. “Rochester Drive isn’t even near anything commercial, and we didn’t think the increase in traffic would be appropriate for a neighborhood.”
The home is owned by Matthew Martone, according to tax records. No one was present at the home Tuesday.
After drawing a heap of bad publicity for drunken antics, bar fights and arrests in Seaside Heights, 495 Productions has consistently faced resistance from other local communities, some of which passed filming ordinances specifically to protect against Jersey Shore from shooting there. Seaside Heights and Toms River both enacted ordinances requiring film permits in recent years, and one spinoff was taped in Manchester largely because the town had no permitting ordinance in place, sources said. Residents in Berkeley Township once threatened to bring a lawsuit after taping was planned at a home on Pelican Island.
Seaside Heights recently relented and agreed to grant the company a two-day permit, but only under strict conditions which allowed access to private property. Producers are reportedly struggling to find a location in which to complete the taping. Wildwood denied a permit request outright and even issued a public statement saying the town “does not welcome the message that the MTV show ‘Jersey Shore’ presents to its viewers.”
Cast members were being filmed in Atlantic City over the weekend, according to a report.
A number of former Jersey Shore cast members are involved in the new show, titled “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.” The latest spinoff is in its second season.
