NEW YORK | Coney Island Redevelopment

[NYguy]

NEW YORK MAGAZINE
http://newyorkmagazine.com/nymetro/realestate/features/14498/

The Incredibly Bold, Audaciously Cheesy, Jaw-Droppingly Vegasified, Billion-Dollar Glam-Rock Makeover of Coney Island

A first look at its not-preposterous future.


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An early sketch of Sitt's Coney Island resort, complete with landing pad for blimps.


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An early conceptual rendering of the shopping, entertainment, and hotel complex real-estate mogul Joe Sitt wants to build in Coney Island. (Photo credit: Joshua Lutz)


By Greg Sargent

Joe Sitt is pacing the Coney Island Boardwalk.

“Imagine something like the Bellagio hotel right now—just stop and see it,” he says, sweeping his hand in a long, slow arc over his head. “The lights. The action. The vitality. The people. We wanna evoke the same feeling you get when you’re in Vegas. It’s exciting. It’s illuminated. It’s sexy.”

Behind him is an aggressively down-market stretch of fast-food stands, dingy arcades, and cheap souvenir shops that have as much in common with the Bellagio as does a three-card-monte table. But when this wiry, frenetic 41-year-old looks at the seediness, he sees an opportunity to do something big. And he can—because all those ramshackle properties belong to him.

Over the past few years, Sitt’s real-estate company, Thor Equities, has quietly spent nearly $100 million buying up a huge swath of Coney Island from multiple owners, painstakingly overtaking perhaps twelve acres of land along the boardwalk, mostly between KeySpan Park, home of the Cyclones, and Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park. Sitt, a little-known Manhattan mogul who’s made his fortune building inner-city shopping malls across the country, now lays claim to Coney’s prime turf, its real-estate trophy. It’s no surprise, then, that Sitt’s mysterious plans have stirred plenty of rumors among Coney locals, who worry he’s plotting to develop a shopping mall or a Wal-Mart on their hallowed grounds.

But Sitt’s scheme for reviving the world’s once-premier amusement park is far more ambitious than the whispers suggest. He plans to build a glittering resort paradise right next to the Coney Island boardwalk—a retail and entertainment colossus every bit as outrageous and flamboyant as the Bahamas’ Atlantis.

The plan includes megaplexes. An indoor water park. A 500-room, four-star hotel—four stars, in Coney Island!—and, at the center of it all, an enormous, psychedelic carousel laced with visual cues to a Coney Island that Timothy Leary could have dreamed up. Equally spectacular, Sitt hopes, will be a blimp that will take off from the complex’s roof, carrying tourists on joyrides over the city as it flashes the resort’s name in giant technicolor letters: THE BOARDWALK AT CONEY ISLAND.

“The dirigible will leave every ten minutes,” Sitt says, jabbing his finger excitedly toward the sky. “On an ongoing basis. Another. Another. Another. Lifting off and taking people on a tour, spreading the message that this is the place to be.” The total price tag: $1 billion, which Sitt hopes to raise from private investors. Sitt has seen Coney Island’s future, and it looks like Vegas—turned up a few notches.

As we talk, Sitt’s cell phone repeatedly interrupts his reverie. He takes the calls, standing not far from a wooden sign advertising a game called SHOOT THE FREAK, a glaring reminder of the enormous gap between Coney’s present state and Sitt’s decadent vision. He’s in the middle of closing a $230 million deal to buy the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, an old, underperforming property he hopes to turn around. This is how Sitt has gotten rich—by pouncing on real-estate and retail opportunities others have overlooked, either because they were decrepit or in undesirable neighborhoods. The son of a Brooklyn textiles merchant, Sitt had his first big financial success in 1990, when, at the age of 26, he took a then-unusual gamble and founded Ashley Stewart, a chain of shops for plus-size, upward-aspiring African-American women.

Sitt was among the first to sense the vast untapped purchasing power of urban ethnic customers, then being ignored by national retail chains. As Alan Barocas, senior vice-president of real estate for the Gap, puts it, “When national retailers were concentrating on suburbs and exurbs, Joe saw a void. Instead of running, he saw opportunity.”

Not long after founding Ashley Stewart, Sitt had a second revelation: The inner-city landlords renting to his stores were asking for far less rent than he—and other retailers, he suspected—would willingly pay. So Sitt began buying up cheap properties in decaying urban areas and opening malls on them. Thor Equities eventually amassed an empire of about 14 million square feet in a dozen cities.


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Behold the Freakenspiel, a merry-go-round and water fountain topped by a pyrotechnic elephant


Though Sitt’s scheme for Coney Island is also a massive gamble on a down-on-its-luck part of the city that many have written off, this deal has another element: personal nostalgia.

Sitt grew up in nearby Gravesend, and trips to Coney were an integral part of his childhood in the late sixties and early seventies, when memories of Coney’s glorious early-twentieth-century heyday were already fading. He still lives near Coney (albeit in a much bigger house) and jogs on the boardwalk. “I love Coney Island,” he says, frequently—giving in to a gushing sentimentality about the project that worries some of his Thor executives. To them, the scheme seems fraught with frightening unknowns: Will the right mix of businesses agree to take a chance on a neighborhood that remains something of a dump? Can a high-end hotel survive so far from midtown? Would a Vegas-style entertainment complex shatter the patchwork quality that gives Coney its mystique?

No one knows the answers, which gives rise to even bigger questions: Is Sitt’s Coney scheme the product of the same business acumen that created Ashley Stewart and his real-estate empire? Or is it merely a hugely expensive sentimental journey for Sitt, a nostalgia-fueled boondoggle-in-the-making?

To realize his vision, Sitt needs the support of another New Yorker who hopes Coney’s best days are ahead: Michael Bloomberg. City officials say they’re not prepared to publicly comment on Sitt’s plan until they review it in detail, but they’re generally supportive. “Although we haven’t gotten into specifics of his plan, I’m confident we’ll be able to get together on a project that helps achieve our vision for Coney Island,” says Josh Sirefman, City Hall’s point man on Coney redevelopment. While city officials have worked successfully with Sitt before—such as on an office tower he’s building in downtown Brooklyn—and are encouraged by his ideas for a water park, carousel, and music venues, there are still potential sticking points. For instance, they don’t want to see Coney Island become “a huge mall gussied up with a bit of entertainment,” one Bloomberg aide says. “We want a large entertainment component, because that will preserve Coney’s heritage and protect its authenticity and uniqueness.”

Another potential cause of friction, they say, could arise over the project’s scale. To be economically viable, Sitt says, the complex has to be at least 2 million square feet, a size that could overwhelm the low-rise neighborhood. “We have a lot of work to do—we have to figure out the appropriate scale for Coney,” the aide says.

Mindful of the powerful symbolism of reviving Coney, the Bloomberg administration has invested tons of capital, political and otherwise, in the area. Last spring, officials unveiled a new $240 million subway terminal at Surf and Stillwell Avenues, Coney’s main intersection. And last Wednesday, Bloomberg journeyed out to Coney’s boardwalk to announce that the government was committing a total of $83 million for neighborhood improvements such as new parking and a community center. He also said the city had completed a master plan for the area, a general set of guidelines meant to encourage private developers—like Sitt—to try to turn Coney into a revitalized, year-round destination.

But the dream of a reborn Coney has proved elusive since the sixties, when Mayor John Lindsay built the low-income housing that hastened the neighborhood’s decline. Since then, a string of failed revival schemes have come and gone. Ed Koch’s plan for casinos tanked when the State Legislature failed to legalize gambling. A subsequent plot by Horace Bullard, the flamboyant founder of the Kansas Fried Chicken chain, to rebuild Coney Island’s historic Steeplechase Park died amid a bitter squabble with the city.

Coney’s historical resonance as the birthplace of the beach-based amusement resort—not to mention the hot dog—has made its decline all the more dispiriting. Unlike other historically significant neighborhoods—places like Times Square and 125th Street, whose heydays, declines, and subsequent rebirths have embodied the larger story of New York—Coney hasn’t rebounded. The 2001 opening of KeySpan Park has given only a modest boost to local merchants because fans largely disappear after games. Come autumn, everyone disappears. Six months of the year, Coney Island is desolate—or, as Gregory Bitetzakis, who owns two restaurants there, puts it, “cold. Very cold. Not a soul around.”

Who in their right mind would travel to Coney Island in February? Sitt’s biggest problem, so far, is that his plan conspicuously lacks a single economic engine, the way Atlantic City has casinos. He’s got his blimps, his carousel, the fireworks he wants to launch from a new pier jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. He also hopes to entice Cirque du Soleil, the House of Blues, and other name-brand draws. Another idea is turning Coney’s major winter liability—proximity to the wind-whipped beach—into a visual asset. “Imagine kids going down a 100-foot-tall waterslide in an indoor water park on a frigid day in January, staring at the ocean outside,” Sitt says. But he says he needs 13 million people a year to spend money in his complex. That’s going to have to be some waterslide.

Another big challenge for Sitt is attracting the right retailers. Sitt says he’s currently in talks with movie-theater companies Loews and UA/Regal, the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum chain, and Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. Done right, the complex could entice New Yorkers who now drive to Atlantic City or Great Adventure. But well-heeled retailers may yet conclude that the neighborhood’s traffic is too shallow-pocketed to support them, and Sitt could find himself stuck with down-market chains (Foot Locker, Tad’s Steaks). Think Rye Playland in the middle of a freezing, forbidding urban landscape.

Experts say that for the project to work, its stores need to command about $400 or $500 per square foot in sales. (By way of comparison, Times Square retailers net up to $1,000 per square foot, experts say.) Those are ambitious numbers, but they’re in the realm of what other big retailers, including Banana Republic, the Gap, and Express, make in places like the Kings Plaza mall or Brooklyn Heights, according to Gene Spiegelman, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield real estate and the company’s expert on Brooklyn retail.

“That’s a sign that the Brooklyn market remains very underserved by retail—which suggests that this project can move those numbers,” says Spiegelman. “Across the country, there’s typically an average of twenty square feet of retail to each person. In Brooklyn, the ratio is six to one, and that’s in a community—Brooklyn—with 2.5 million people.”

Then there’s the problem of getting a big hotel operator. Sitt’s own analysts say it would have to charge from $250 to $300 per night and have at least 70 percent occupancy year-round. “To achieve that, we’ll need to figure out how to position the hotel—whether as a meeting place for conventions or more as a resort-type tourist attraction,” says David Malmuth, managing director of Robert Charles Lesser & Co., which Sitt has hired to crunch the plan’s numbers.

In Sitt’s conviction that retailers and hotel operators will come, it’s easy to hear echoes of his softheaded side. “Quality purveyors will fit right in here,” he insists. “It’s got the beach, the boardwalk, the brand—Coney Island! It’s got sooo much potential!”

Sitt, of course, is hardly the only person enamored of Coney Island’s “brand,” and his billion-dollar vision is stirring some worry among locals who harbor their own deep nostalgia for the place. Take Dick Zigun, the unofficial “mayor” of Coney and founder of Coney Island USA, which runs the Mermaid Parade and the Coney Island Museum. He hopes Sitt’s cosmopolis will help the community, but as the self-appointed guardian of Coney Island kitsch, Zigun feels protective of the neighborhood’s heritage. His museum is housed on a property not owned by Sitt, and he worries about eviction. What better way for Sitt to prove good intentions toward Coney, Zigun asks, than to rent the museum a home in the new complex?

“We’d like him to rise to the occasion and earn us as his partner,” Zigun says. “He hasn’t said no, but he hasn’t said yes, either.”

Zigun also wonders about the fate of locals operating food shacks and souvenir stands on Sitt’s property. “There are businesses here I love very much, like Ruby’s Bar [on the boardwalk],” he says. “Let’s be realistic—some of them won’t be able to afford the new rents, thanks to what’s unofficially called ‘progress.’ ”

Sitt is working to win over the locals. Mindful that an isolated monolith could be unpalatable to the community, his chief designer, Stan Eckstut, is working on a plan to weave the complex seamlessly into the neighborhood beyond. “This can’t be self-contained, like something in downtown Stamford,” says Eckstut, who also designed the MGM Mirage City Center in Vegas. “It has to be accessible to everyone—kind of the town center of Coney Island.”

Or, as Sitt puts it: “Our vision is lights, camera, action, entertainment. But it can’t be too cleaned up. It has to have that special Coney flavor.”

He’s promised local merchants whom the project will displace that they will get first crack at renting space in the new project. And as Sitt well knows, his local-boy-made-good bio is a big help in selling his scheme. He often makes the rounds among Coney locals, always calling himself “Joey.”

These efforts have slowly made Coney denizens warm up to Sitt—perhaps partly because they’re all desperate for a cash infusion into the area. “Joe is a Brooklyn guy that wants to do right by Coney Island,” says Dennis Vourderis, who’s owned Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park with his brother for almost 25 years. “The general consensus here is, we would love him to succeed. If he succeeds, so does Coney Island.”

Though such hopes have proved vain for nearly half a century, the moment may be ripe for Coney’s big comeback as the next step in Brooklyn’s astonishing resurgence over the past two decades. The irony is that until now, big builders have played little role in Brooklyn’s bounce-back, achieved largely by gradual gentrification, through entrepreneurship and the rehabbing of neighborhoods one warehouse at a time. The result has been an enormous boost of disposable income that’s made Brooklyn safe for big-time investment. In other words, after all the hard work by small businesspeople and fixer-upper homeowners, the cashing-in stage has arrived for the big developers: Witness plans for high-rises on the Williamsburg waterfront; Bruce Ratner’s planned arena on the Atlantic rail yards; and now, Sitt’s plan for Coney Island.

"The Incredibly Bold, Audaciously Cheesy, Jaw-Droppingly Vegasified, Billion-Dollar Glam-Rock Makeover of Coney Island"

It’s tempting to see Sitt as a kind of Coney Island Bugsy Siegel (sans the wiseguy ties), the notorious gangster who reimagined a grubby little town in the Nevada desert as the gambling mecca of the United States. “I feel like him,” Sitt says. “Bugsy Siegel went into a town and there were a couple of small gambling casinos. His dream was to take the inspiration from what was there before and magnify it. Give it more variety. Give it choices . . . That’s exactly the turnaround opportunity that we see here in Coney Island!”

Sitt starts jabbing at the air again. “People said I was nuts for opening upscale stores in the middle of some of the toughest African-American neighborhoods in the United States,” he practically yells. “You know what? They were wrong.”

[NYguy]

BROOKLYN PAPERS

VEGAS BY THE SEA
Developer shows new vision of Coney

http://brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol28/28_38/28_38vegasconey.jpg

Artist renderings of an indoor mall envisioned by developer Joseph Sitt, of Thor Equities, for constuction along the Coney Island boardwalk. The plan could transform Coney Island into a year-round destination.

By Ariella Cohen
The Brooklyn Papers

Over the next few weeks, the city Department of Parks and Recreation will decide who gets to operate Brooklyn’s favorite rickety ride — the Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster.

But while the Cyclone is obviously an icon of Coney Island, it may soon become a remnant of its past.

Joseph Sitt, owner of Thor Equities, the development company that operates the Gallery at Fulton Mall in Downtown Brooklyn and owns over 12 acres of seaside property in the faded amusement mecca, has visions of a glitzy boardwalk entertainment strip that looks more Vegas than Astroland.

In digital renderings sent to The Brooklyn Papers this week, a Nike-sponsored climbing wall takes up one region of a sweeping indoor amusement zone. A fiberglass elephant gleams upon a double-tiered carousel.

The House of Blues plays ground-floor anchor to another glassy, indoor-entertainment zone, much like the national chain does at its boardwalk location on the ground floor of the Showboat Casino in Atlantic City or at Barefoot Landing on Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.

In describing his vision for the amusement complex to a New York magazine reporter, Sitt also talked about a 100-foot-tall waterslide in an indoor water park and reported that he is currently in talks with movie theater companies Loews and UA/Regal.

So far, Sitt’s vision has generated enthusiasm, albeit that of the guarded and slightly ambivalent breed, among those whose properties would be affected.

“I have spoken with Sitt and other interested developers and I am sure they know that no matter the grandeur of their designs they will have to retain the feeling — I don’t know how to describe it — that will allow it to blend to Coney island as it is now,” said Horace Bullard, a Coney Island property owner and founder of the Kansas Fried Chicken chain, who at one time planned to rebuild Coney’s historic Steeplechase Park.

“I’ve read a lot of things, but I guess I am like a lot of people — I’ll wait and see what happens,” said Cyclone roller coaster manager Mark Blumenthal, an employee of Astroland for the past 24 years.

Bullard sold the former Washington Baths on West 21st Street and Surf Avenue, where Sitt plans a condo development, but still owns a vacant, 4-acre tract where a roller coaster once stood. He agrees with Sitt that all-season attractions like the climbing wall or a giant indoor water slide would keep true to the resort’s pleasure-zone heritage and of course, make Coney Island a year-round draw for the city.

“It is an exciting plan, as I am sure many that will be proposed will be,” he told The Brooklyn Papers.

While Sitt did not offer comment on his company’s plans or wishes for the Astroland property, he has made no promises to the current operators.

Adding tension to the Cyclone negotiations, a misaligned piece of track on the 85-foot-tall, wood-and-steel roller coaster sent four riders to the hospital with whiplash two weeks ago, an accident attributed by the Astroland operators to old age. The famous ride was shut down during the Labor Day weekend as a result of the accident.

The low-tech attraction, which is 78 years old, is owned by the Parks Department and, as stipulated by law, bid out every 10 years. Two weeks ago, the city closed its bidding period.

The bidding yielded proposals from a number of interested parties — the number of bids and their content are under wraps until the city makes its decision — a parks spokesperson said.

Aside from Astroland’s owner, the Albert family which currently operates the roller coaster, none of the bidders have publicly come forward.

Blumenthal said he had not heard of rival bidders.

“We are getting ready for next year,” he said. “At this time, there is no indication we are not going to be here.”

Yet, as change wafts, as sure as the scent of a Nathan’s hot dog, over the boardwalk there are questions about who will take over area leases.

“Landlords are only giving one-year extensions on leases now,” said Dick Zigun, president of Coney Island USA, the nonprofit community arts organization that organizes the annual Mermaid Parade on the boardwalk and Surf Avenue.

This November, the 10-year lease Zigun holds on Coney Island USA’s current Surf Avenue location will expire and he wants to move to a derelict bank building at Surf Avenue and West 12th Street that was recently bought up by Thor Equities.

Coney Island USA has already sent a letter of intent to Sitt and is now awaiting a response.

“He appreciates what we do,” said Zigun. “He hasn’t said, yes, but he hasn’t said, no.”

[NYguy]

The Coney Island of the past...


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Night/aerswing.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Night/dragon.jpg


http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/history/img/ci_lunapark2.jpg?


http://www.vintageviews.org/vv-3/amusement_parks/pix/amp02_005.JPG?


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http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=coney+island+park/v=2/SID=e/TID=I049_75/l=IVI/SIG=1232f911k/EXP=1127652524/*-http%3A//timefreezephotos.com/postcards/coney.jpg?


http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/parks/coney-island/graphics-ci/luna-prom1.jpg?


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http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=coney+island+park/v=2/SID=e/TID=I049_75/l=IVI/SIG=123vqqrck/EXP=1127652808/*-http%3A//www.ualr.edu/~jxbriton/prof/lunaview.jpg?


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Steeplechase/Parachute%20Drop/parachuteday.jpg?


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Steeplechase/Steeplechase%20Ride/oldsteeplechaseride.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Steeplechase/Steeplechase%20Ride/steeplechaseride4.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Steeplechase/main/steeplechasebowerynight.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Park/restandhelt.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Rides/dragonsgorge2.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Rides/dragonsgorge.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Promenades/20000leagues.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Animals/elephant.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Dreamland/Dreamland%20Tower/towernight.jpg

[craeg]

I'm sorry... The "freakenspiel" ?
That is too funny.

[NYguy]

DAILY NEWS

Boardwalk Bahamas?


Call it Club Med meets Coney Island.

Banana boat rides and parasailing could soon join the Cyclone and Wonder Wheel as favorite Coney Island activities, the Daily News has learned.

The two Caribbean vacation staples are highlighted in a draft proposal for a "beach adventure concession" quietly circulated by the Parks Department last month.

"It's about time that our beaches have activities like they have in Aruba, the Bahamas and Florida," said City Councilman Domenic Recchia (D-Coney Island).

The Parks Department wants operators to bring in rock climbing walls, trampolines and trapeze courses on the beach in front of KeySpan Park.

Tropical resort vacation activities such as banana boat rides or parasailing are also a possibility, officials said. "We'd love to see it. We think it would be very popular in Coney Island," said Liam Kavanagh, first deputy parks commissioner. "But we're not quite sure that it is going to work."

It's not yet clear if the ocean is too choppy or there is too much boat traffic for banana boats or parasailing, Kavanagh said.

Rich Welter, a former Long Islander who owns Sunset Watersports in Key West, Fla., said he thought the city's plan could work.

"It can't be too choppy for a banana boat. It makes it more fun," said Welter, adding that banana boat rides and parasailing are among his most popular offerings.

The proposal comes in the midst of a development boom in the faded seaside resort.

Developer Thor Equities is pushing to build a $1 billion entertainment and retail complex along Stillwell Ave., between Surf Ave. and the Boardwalk.

Most Coney Island regulars also said they can't wait.

"That sounds hot," said Justin Green, a college student who grew up nearby. "This is the best thing I've heard that's coming here."

"I like it," said Nathan's customer Shelby Dawson, who lives in Brighton Beach.

"I've never been to the Caribbean ... so this would give a lot of us down here a chance to experience something like that."

But Everett Keller, a construction company owner from Dyker Heights, said he didn't want Coney Island to turn into a Caribbean-style resort.

"Does this look like the Bahamas to you?" he said over lunch at Nathan's. "You ask most people and they'll say they like Coney Island the way it is."

[GFSNYC]

This is a long time comming. I think it is a bit unfair to say that Joe Sitt's proposal is over-the-top and cheesy. Look at the coney island of the past, those buildings, colors, the pagentry would've been considered the Vegas of the time. Coney island is all about a circus-like atmosphere. Its a shame they never took astro-land a ran with it-maybe even turning it over to six-flags at some point in history. I think the trade off in identity loss would be offset by a spill-over of other businesses to capitalize on its cachet as a destination. Six Flags Astroland @ Coney Island featuring the world's tallest, fastest roller coaster? Sounds pretty good to me. ;)

[NYguy]

This is a long time comming. I think it is a bit unfair to say that Joe Sitt's proposal is over-the-top and cheesy. Look at the coney island of the past, those buildings, colors, the pagentry would've been considered the Vegas of the time.


True. Ironically, the same people who say they don't want a "tame" Coney Island are the same people preaching for just that.

[MolsonExport]

Hey with global warming, Coney Island may yet become the next bahamas.

[NYguy]

NY POST

BEACH VOLLEYBALL TO HIT B'KLYN

By TIM ARANGO
January 24, 2006

The AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour and its mix of bikinis, surf and sand will descend on New York City for the first time this summer.

AVP is joining forces with Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment — an affiliate of Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner's New Jersey Nets ownership group Nets Sports and Entertainment — to bring the tour to Brooklyn next August and will build a 4,000 seat stadium on Coney Island.

Pro beach volleyball has grown from a fledgling player's association in the 1980s to a big business today — with top players able to rake in almost a half million dollars a year from prize money and endorsements.

Under former sports agent Leonard Armato, CEO of the AVP, the tour has increased revenue from about $1 million in 2001 to just under $15 million last year and has attracted numerous corporate sponsors, such as Bud Light, Gatorade, McDonald's and Xbox.

In 2006, the tour will host 16 events and hand out a combined $3.5 million in prize money.

[NYguy]

NEW YORK MAGAZINE

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/realestate/features/coneyisland050919_3_400.jpg

An early sketch of Sitt's Coney Island resort, complete with landing pad for blimps.


http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/realestate/features/coneyisland050919_1_400.jpg

An early conceptual rendering of the shopping, entertainment, and hotel complex real-estate mogul Joe Sitt wants to build in Coney Island. (Photo credit: Joshua Lutz)

____________________________________________

And the visions change again....(NY Post)

NEW-WAVE CONEY
BEACH BUM TO SURF CITY

By RICH CALDER
October 31, 2006

Here's a sneak peek at Coney Island's glamorous future.

Architectural renderings obtained by The Post show a grand vision of the famed summer amusement area's rundown streets being transformed into a glitzy year-round playground and public attraction.

In one image, Stillwell Avenue becomes a fantasy-filled boulevard marked by larger-than-life street furniture, such as a mermaid swimming in a martini glass and a gigantic tattooed elephant.

The landmark Cyclone roller coaster can still be seen from down Bowery Street - which itself is reinvented as a permanent festival and sideshow area.

Thor Equities has purchased 10 acres of boardwalk land in the hope of building a $1.5 billion entertainment destination.

The project is awaiting city approval, but the company hopes to break ground in 18 months and wrap up in about five years.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10312006/photos/news028.jpg

____________________________________________

CITY BOOST FOR A 'GLITZY' CONEY

By RICH CALDER
November 1, 2006

City officials who control the future of Coney Island say the latest renderings for a $1.5 billion, Vegas-glitz amusement area around the boardwalk are right on track.

Joshua Sirefman, interim president of the city's Economic Development Corp., said developer Thor Equities' latest proposal shows "the right kind of energy that we've always talked about for Coney Island."

____________________________________________

curbed.com

The Coney Island Vision We Couldn't Make Up

http://www.curbed.com/2006_10_coney.jpg


Now that mall-builder Thor Equities is making some moves on its Coney Island properties, we'd really love to know what the latest plans for the area look like. We've been through so many renderings and announcements, we have no clue what the thing will actually look like in 10 years, besides being some sort of dystopian pleasuredome. And did somebody say dystopian pleasuredome?! Because the Post got their hands on a couple of the latest images, and if they are to be believed, we will all soon be entertained by giant phalluses of light beamed into the cosmos and, uh, "a fantasy-filled boulevard marked by larger-than-life street furniture, such as a mermaid swimming in a martini glass and a gigantic tattooed elephant." Oh, and dudes dressed as Batman and paintings of witches with pumpkins for asses. Get into it

[Tom In Chicago]

holy shit!!!

[JACKinBeantown]

I love the old steeplechase ride. I wonder how many people got injured on that.

[Jularc]

Here is a (old?) proposal...


This is from http://www.eekarchitects.com


http://63.240.68.122/FirmFiles/8/images/Site-Plan-lg.jpg

http://63.240.68.122/FirmFiles/8/images/Aerial-View-lg.jpg

http://63.240.68.122/FirmFiles/8/images/Stillwell-Walk-Night-lg.jpg

http://63.240.68.122/FirmFiles/8/images/Stillwell-lg.jpg


Coney Island Redevelopment

Brooklyn, New York Redevelopment of 10-acre site into a mixed-use entertainment complex which will include residential, hotel, retail and a new waterpark. This redevelopment fits into the master plan as developed by the Coney Island Development Corporation.

[Jularc]

Proposal for the Coney Island Aquarium...


More Coney Island Aquarium Redo Renderings


http://ruiz-geli.com/media/11%20Competition/NYaquarium01.jpg


Wednesday, November 1, 2006

After yesterday's publication of a couple of more "visions" of the future Coney Island in all of its odd dystopian glory, the additional renderings and models from one of the finalists vying to redesign the butt ugly utilitarian New York Aquarium are almost a breath of fresh air. (At least, there are no mermaids with pumpkins on their asses.) It may or may not win and get built, but they're pretty cool. This is the propsal from WRT and Cloud9. More images after the jump if you click through.

Aquarium Design Proposal (http://ruiz-geli.com/)

BONUS: The city digs the Thor Coney vision. Coney Island Development Corp. interim president Joshua Sirefman tells the Post their latest renderings "show the right kind of energy that we've always talked about for Coney Island." But, Coney blogger Kinetic Carnival says they look like "lesser quality rejects" of drawings mistakenly released this summer and a "rehash."


Copyright © 2006 Curbed

[NYguy]

Yeah, that aquarium proposal has a life of its own...

[NYguy]

NY Sun

A $1.5 Billion Vision For Coney Island

By DAVID LOMBINO
November 13, 2006


http://www.nysun.com/pics/43372_main_large.jpg

A developer, Thor Equities, says it wants to spend $1.5 billion to rebuild Coney Island and reinvigorate its amusement zone. New plans include building a roller coaster that the developer says would be the first built since the Cyclone opened in 1927.


Even on a bright fall day, the streets that make up Coney Island's amusement district seem worn and tired, more tumbleweeds than tourists. While the area boasts an original circus-like charm, born of colorful characters who congregate there, even old-timers agree it needs a major facelift.

The founder of the nonprofit Coney Island USA, Richard Zigun, blames the area's decay on a handful of property owners who "were wealthy enough to sit on their property for 20 or 30 years and wait."

"They did not give a damn about the amusement industry," Mr. Zigun said.

But the city's prolonged real estate boom is reaching Brooklyn's southern edge, and over the past two or three years, dozens of parcels in the amusement district have changed hands, opening up the possibility for new development.

"This is the best shot Coney Island has had in 50 years," he said. "Hopefully, we will get something fantastic, something world-class."

The biggest buyer is developer Joseph Sitt of Thor Equities. He has spent more than $100 million to assemble more than a dozen balkanized parcels along the boardwalk, close to the subway station.

Thor wants to spend $1.5 billion to restore the amusement district to its former glory, transforming it from a place to spend a summer afternoon into a year-round destination, and giving it the feel of Las Vegas, Orlando, or Atlantic City.

New designs drawn up by the architectural firm Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn depict Thor's futuristic vision. A new roller coaster would dart in and out of new buildings along Stillwell Avenue, the first roller coaster in New York City since the Cyclone opened in 1927, according to the developer. Opposite the subway station, Thor is planning a vertical ride to the top of a 150-foot-high water tower that would be decorated with flickering holograms of whales and mermaids.

Where Stillwell Avenue meets the boardwalk, the developer wants to build a giant indoor water park and a three-story, glass-enclosed carousel. All the rides would be winterized. They would also be integrated with a movie theater, arcades, retail stores, and with existing attractions, like the Cyclone, the Wonder Wheel, and the Parachute Drop. Thor Equities would lease out the rides or find an operating partner to run the amusements.

The plan has a catch. Thor says it needs the city to enact a zoning change to allow residential and hotel development in the amusement district.

Thor wants to build as many as four towers on its site, comprising two hotels, a time-share, and an apartment building that could rise up to 40 stories.

In the early 1970s, in an attempt to save the amusements, the city rezoned the area to forbid residential development, which it said threatened to chase the rides, games, and shows out of town. Now the developer is arguing that the profit from the residential development is the way to fund the area's regeneration.

A spokesman for Thor Equities, Lee Silberstein, said, "The problem with amusements is that they don't make money. There is a reason why people stopped building them. They are too expensive and too seasonal. That is part of the reason why we want to do residential."

Currently, Coney Island attracts visitors for about five months a year, from April to mid-September. To be profitable, the amusements would need to operate year-round. The developer hopes the apartments and hotels will enliven the area and make it safer with a permanent human presence.

The city is working on rezoning and design recommendations. Following additional public outreach, it hopes to put a plan through the land use review process next year. The developer is planning to prepare the 10-acre site for construction and they hope to open in 2010 or 2011. Some of the amusement operators in the Thor development footprint were forced to close up shop this year, and others will stay open for one more summer season.

Mr. Zigun, who also sits on the board of the city's Coney Island Development Corporation, said hotels would be a welcome addition, but said he is dead set against condominiums in the heart of the amusement district. He said he's not looking for a fight, but "a polite, intelligent discussion."

Mr. Zigun, who has tattoos poking out from under his jacket sleeves, said Coney Island is best preserved for "those with money who want to get drunk, stay out late," tendencies, he said, that only a non-resident would have.

"Put the loud places here, the things that don't belong in other neighborhoods," Mr. Zigun said.

While some critics have said Thor's designs are too glitzy, Mr. Zigun envisions something like Las Vegas, Miami Beach, Orlando, Fla., and Atlantic City, N.J., jazzy, modern, and fantastical, as opposed to a "suburban glass façade," or an area dominated by mall-like retail stores. Thor changed earlier plans for a mall after residents and city officials complained.

The project architect, Stanton Eckstut, said the design would not be a replica of old-fashioned Coney Island style.

"We don't want to do something based on a frozen moment in time," he said. "We want to make it feel like part of the evolution of Coney's past, but we are not doing a historic reproduction."

Mr. Eckstut helped create plans for Battery Park City and Brooklyn's Metrotech.

Mr. Zigun said any specific plans for Thor's site are likely to change over the next year, as the rezoning evolves and the developer negotiates with the community about preserving certain landmarks, and the height and makeup of the new buildings.

"I'm not one of the people who says no-go on Vegas. You can build Brooklyn's Times Square at the beach," he said. "Before you know it, you will be able to have a Starbucks latte at the beach, and hopefully a giant roller coaster you can throw up on."

[Jularc]

More renderings...


http://www.curbed.com/2006_11_Coney%20Three.jpg

http://www.curbed.com/2006_11_Coney%20Five.jpg

http://www.curbed.com/2006_11_Coney%20Four.jpg

http://www.curbed.com/2006_11_Coney%20One.jpg


http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/11/13/heres_coney_island_v_21.php#more

[NYguy]

This is going to be amazing. Will there ever be a reason to leave the City again?

Those renderings seem to go in line with what was stated in the article:

New designs drawn up by the architectural firm Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn depict Thor's futuristic vision. A new roller coaster would dart in and out of new buildings along Stillwell Avenue, the first roller coaster in New York City since the Cyclone opened in 1927, according to the developer. Opposite the subway station, Thor is planning a vertical ride to the top of a 150-foot-high water tower that would be decorated with flickering holograms of whales and mermaids.

Where Stillwell Avenue meets the boardwalk, the developer wants to build a giant indoor water park and a three-story, glass-enclosed carousel. All the rides would be winterized.

[NYguy]

Daily News

Hopes soar for Coney coaster

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/431-coney14.jpg

Futuristic plan for Coney Island's redevelopment envisions new roller coaster twisting over Boardwalk.


Hold on to your hats, Coney Island fans.

A new state-of-the-art roller coaster could someday be weaving between buildings and bulleting along Coney's famed Boardwalk.

With more than 4,000 feet of swirling steel tracks, the yet-unnamed coaster would soar above Stillwell Ave. and spiral along the Boardwalk at breakneck speeds.

The coaster, which would be an instant rival to Coney's classic Cyclone, is part of a massive redevelopment plan by Thor Equities, which has bought property in the Brooklyn amusement mecca.

"In its heyday, Coney Island always had the biggest, best, most futuristic attractions in the world," said Thor Equities spokesman Lee Silberstein.

"As envisioned, the new coaster will be the ride of a lifetime and will propel Coney Island into the next phase of its life," Silberstein said.

Thor's $1.5 billion vision for Coney would add residential, retail, entertainment and other amusement components, including an indoor water park and a glassed-in carousel. The proposal still needs city approval.

Designers at the Switzerland-based amusement firm Intamin AG are devising a plan that would allow the tracks to be extended if it's decided later that the coaster should be bigger.

Folks walking along the Boardwalk yesterday mostly praised the idea for a new coaster, though some said they feared the high-tech ride would ruin the area's honky-tonk feel.

"This will surpass any roller coaster out now," said retiree Tyrone Scott, 67. "I haven't been on a roller coaster in five years, but I'd try it if it goes slow."

Mike Alvarado, 50, said no to slow: He wants to see a coaster that hangs upside down, swirls and soars high above the Boardwalk.

"They should build it," said Alvarado, 50, a counselor who lives in Marine Park, Brooklyn. "It would bring more business and people. It should be like the kind at Great Adventure."


Denise Romano and Jotham Sederstrom

[JBoston]

wow... brooklyn is changing so quickly. The Atlantic Yards proposal by Gehry and now this ridiculous explosion of whatever the fuck it is. Brooklyn doesn't need a Time's Square knock off; leave that up to cities like Toronto. (haha)

[NYguy]

NY Post

DEVELOPER'S IDEA HAS CONEY ISLANDERS SAYING: BRING IT ON

By RICH CALDER
November 27, 2006

If Coney Islanders have their way, City Hall won't block a developer's $1.5 billion bid to transform the rundown summer amusement area into a year-round public attraction.

The results of a recent survey, exclusively obtained by The Post, reveal that nearly 76 percent of area residents do not want city officials to block "a $1.5 billion investment in Coney Island to expand amusement attractions and bring new restaurants and retail outlets to the community."

While the 42-question poll never mentions Thor Equities by name, that question and many others deal with the kind of project that the developer wants to build along 10 acres of boardwalk property between West 12th and West 15th streets.

The city's Economic Development Corp. declined to comment. The project would require various zoning changes.

Other results of the poll also bode well for Thor, which commissioned the phone survey of 400 Coney Island-vicinity residents by the Alexandria, Va.-based firm Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates.

The survey found most residents in favor of every type of amenity that Thor wants to bring to Coney Island. New construction "on or near the boardwalk," for example, should feature restaurants - according to 81.8 percent of those polled.

The survey also found overwhelming support for hotels (80.5 percent), movie theaters (78.7 percent), more amusements/rides (76.3 percent), retail stores (74.8 percent), and a "limited amount" of residential housing (62.2 percent).

[NYguy]

NY Post

CONEY I. CARNIVAL BARKER

By RICH CALDER
November 28, 2006

The developer looking to build a Las Vegas-glitz entertainment complex in Coney Island kicked off a massive ad blitz yesterday aimed at swaying public opinion toward supporting the $1.5 billion project, The Post has learned.

Thor Equities began mailing Brooklyn residents the first of five newsletters pitching its vision for transforming the rundown summer amusement area into a year-round public attraction.

Spokesman Lee Silberstein said the developer also planned to launch a Web site and to advertise in newspapers.

"Coney Island has a glorious past but fell onto hard times," the mailer reads. "It's our goal to bring it back."

Thor wants to erect a hotel, stores, housing, new rides, an indoor water park, a multilevel carousel, and a 4,000-foot-long roller coaster that would weave around the 10 acres of boardwalk property that the developer purchased between West 12th and West 15th streets.

The project would require various city zoning changes and would have to pass public review.

[NYguy]

amny

Coney Island's Astroland sold to developer

By LARRY McSHANE
November 28, 2006

NEW YORK -- The vintage Astroland Amusement Park, one of the anchors of Coney Island since its 1962 opening, was purchased Tuesday by a developer intent on restoring the Brooklyn beachfront as a $1.5 billion year-round resort.

The Albert family, owners of the well-known park, will close the 3.1-acre attraction at the end of the 2007 summer season under the deal reached with Thor Equities. The Alberts will continue to operate the landmark Cyclone roller-coaster, which turns 80 next year, under an existing agreement with the city.

The decision to sell was "very difficult and made only after months of extensive discussion," said Carol Hill Albert, co-owner of Astroland with husband Jerome. The park was launched by her late father-in-law, Dewey Albert.

In the end, the cost of converting Astroland to a year-round operation was too steep. The family had turned down larger bids last year "in the hope of finding an alternative that would enable us to keep our current location," Albert said _ but it didn't pan out.

Thor Equities plans a $1.5 billion, year-round facility in Coney Island. Although no price was given for the Astroland purchase, Thor had already spent $100 million snapping up properties along the venerable boardwalk.

Thor's plans include a mix of amusements and attractions, including a new roller coaster and a new hotel to accommodate the anticipated arrival of new tourists.

The site of the amusement park is renowned for another reason. Local legend has it that restaurateur Charles Feltman invented the hot dog there in 1874.

The Alberts, although they sold their property to Thor, retained ownership of attractions like the water flume and the Astrotower in hopes of adding some new rides and relocating to another section of the neighborhood.

The amusement park employs about 300 workers every summer, and Albert was hopeful that city and Brooklyn officials could help with relocation costs.

"The Albert family is proud to have provided so many wonderful memories for so many generations and to have been such an important part of New York's world famous Coney Island," Albert said.

[NYguy]

Daily News

Astroland's swan song
Coney landmark sold, will close in '07

BY ELIZABETH HAYS, RACHEL MONAHAN and JOTHAM SEDERSTROM

It's the last ride for Astroland as New Yorkers know it.

A big-bucks developer bought up the gritty Brooklyn amusement park yesterday in its bid to turn Coney Island into a sparkling new $1.5 billion year-round resort.

The 2007 summer season will be Astroland's last under the plan, which would leave the historic landmark Cyclone roller coaster intact.

Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert sold the 3-acre Astroland site to developer Joseph Sitt's Thor Equities for an unspecified amount.

"It's not something we're happy about; it's sad," said Albert, whose family has owned the legendary park since 1962. "It was the only logical alternative to going out of business altogether."

The park purchase is the latest land grab by Thor for its plan to add residential, retail, entertainment and other all-weather amusement components to Coney Island. Brooklyn-born Sitt has reportedly laid out more than $100 million so far.

Albert said she hopes to relocate some of the rides like the Tilt-A-Whirl and Tea Cups elsewhere along the Boardwalk.

Even if Albert is able to relocate rides like the Pirate Ship, Top Spin and the Scrambler, one of the most popular, the Astrotower, will have to leave Coney Island for good.

"That I can't move," said Albert, who noted it would cost as much as $400,000 to move the 200-foot, World's Fair era attraction. "You can put it on eBay for me."

Thor spokesman Lee Silberstein said the famed Cyclone roller coaster, which sits on city land, would not change hands and would continue to be operated by Albert. The rest of Astroland would be cleared for new rides and an indoor entertainment complex, but Silberstein declined to reveal specific plans.

Thor also envisions luxury condos, and turning Stillwell Ave. into a tree-lined pedestrian mall filled with cafes and shops. "We're thinking totally outside of the box," said Silberstein. "We're thinking something spectacular that would be really great for New York City."

Reaction was mixed in Coney Island yesterday, although Brooklyn politicos have generally supported Thor's plans.

"I can't believe they're going to close this place down," said Will Paraison, 28, of Canarsie. "When you say Brooklyn, everyone knows Coney Island and Astroland. It's one of Brooklyn's symbols."

"It's not going to be Coney Island the way I know Coney Island," said Florence Yorrie, 42, who lives nearby. "They're going to make it nice."

[ArchWatcher]

too gawdy:(
i like the old postcards a lot

[ArchWatcher]

the aquarium is neat
wtf is the whale building?

[roner]

Whoa! When did developers start dropping acid and following the Dr. Seuss guide to entertainment? Party On Coney Island!:banana:

[NYguy]

NY Post

EATERY MAY BE CONEY HOUSING

By RICH CALDER
December 28, 2006

The developer planning a $2 billion face lift for Coney Island's amusement area is close to a deal to buy a well-known local Italian restaurant - so he can use the site for luxury housing, sources told The Post yesterday.

Gargiulo's Restaurant, a Coney Island institution since 1903, could be relocated a few blocks away to the proposed larger boardwalk project, a Vegas-style entertainment area between West 12th and West 15th streets.

Developer Thor Equities last month bought the Astroland amusement park and hopes to replace it with a theme hotel and spectacular new rides.

The overall project would include other hotels, stores, housing, an indoor water park, a multilevel carousel, and a 4,000-foot-long roller coaster.

The company is awaiting city approval, but hopes to break ground in 18 months and wrap up in about five years.

[NYguy]

Brooklyn Papers

Circus may parade into Coney Island

http://www.brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol29/29_50/29_50bigapple.jpg

Zaïda (upside down) and Aumor of the Big Apple Circus may soon be showing off their skills in Coney Island.


By Dana Rubinstein

Running away to the circus might soon be as easy as taking the D train to Stillwell Avenue if Coney Island real-estate magnate Joseph Sitt has his way.

The Big Apple Circus has confirmed that it met recently with Sitt’s Thor Equities to discuss incorporating the circus into the $2-billion condo-and-amusement neighborhood Sitt has proposed for the dozen-odd acres of Boardwalk-front property he owns in the neighborhood.

“There was one very preliminary exploratory meeting a couple of months ago,” said Joel Dein, a Big Apple spokesman.

Dein emphasized that a potential relationship with Thor would not undermine Lincoln Center’s status as the circus’s home base.

Thor has also reportedly been talking to Nickelodeon and Disney about collaborating on the beachfront development, although those reports could not be confirmed.

Coney Island insiders this week applauded the idea of the Big Apple on the Boardwalk, saying the circus would fit as nicely into the community as a sword down a freak-show performer’s throat.

“As long as you’re bringing in amusement operators, rather than shopping malls and condos, bring it on!” said Dick Zigun, who runs Coney Island’s legendary Sideshow.

“There traditionally were circuses at Steeplechase, Dreamland and Luna Park,” added Zigun. “The circuses scattered when the amusement parks closed.”

Michael Immerso, the author of the authoritative history of the entertainment community, agreed —though he warned that Coney Island’s entertainment diversity must be preserved.

“One would hope that Thor would also reach out to more cutting-edge local entertainment visionaries,” said Immerso, author of “Coney Island, the People’s Playground.”

“If you [relocate] the same things you could find at Times Square, then you don’t have Coney Island, you just have American pop culture transplanted in Coney Island.”

As The Brooklyn Papers has reported, Sitt has been snapping up land in Coney Island for more than a year. With his purchase of the famed, but dilapidated, Astroland last month, he now owns 13 acres of prime real estate between West 10 and 15th streets on which to build his restaurant, hotel, amusement, condo and retail complex.

Even if Coney Island doesn’t end up with the circus, circus-goers can still get a taste of Coney Island.

This season, the Big Apple Circus is featuring a show called “Amusement Resort by the Sea,” which focuses on Coney Island in the early 20th century and promises “rollicking rides and awesome arcades, the boisterous barker and surprising sideshows.”

Dein called the show’s timing “coincidental.”

[NYguy]

Courier-Life Publications

Q & A with Coney Island mega-developer

By Stephen Witt
12/29/2006


With much of the Coney Island amusement park area now in control of Joseph J. Sitt, the principal of Thor Equities, his company has become a major player in the redevelopment of the entire borough.

Among the firm’s other holdings are the former Revere Sugar factory site in Red Hook, the Albee Square Mall on Fulton Street, and the garage building on Bond and Livingston streets.

Sitt is originally from South Brooklyn and continues to have many ties in the borough.

Recently, Courier-Life Publications sat down with Sitt in his Manhattan office to talk about his plans for Brooklyn, and Coney Island and Red Hook in particular.

Also present was Lee Silberstein of the public relations firm the Marino Organization.

During the course of the interview, Silberstein made several points as a clarification.

____________________________________________

People in the borough are on pins and needles regarding your submission of a project plan for Coney Island. When is that coming and can you offer any more details regarding height, density and the amount of residential housing you will incorporate in the plan? What type of zoning changes are you looking for?

Sitt: We’re in the process right now of a mixed-use plan. Our goals will be a combination of retail/ amusement/entertainment. It will include a hotel component and a residential component.

The mix is driven by several factors. One of the largest problems Coney Island has right now is it’s dead most of the year and it’s a scary neighborhood late at night almost all year long because of the lack of people present there.

In our plan, one of our goals is to include a residential and hotel component that will create that 24/7 activity 365 days a year so that there’ll be constant activity which is what creates the vitality for areas and developments like this cause you have people there, and in the case of the hotel, transient activity — people coming and going.

So the goal is to have a mixed-use project of all three of those components and we think by having all three of these components we’ll make this into a really important destination location where people want to be, people want to sleep, people want to vacation, people want to visit, people want to own a second location.

So when are we going to see an actual plan and not art renderings?

Silberstein: We’ve been doing that the last few years. We’ve been meeting with the city officials and the CIDC [Coney Island Development Corporation]. And in fact there is a plan that we’ve been sharing with the city officials and we’ve been getting feedback on and we continue to wait for them to take it to the next level.

Sitt: We have to wait for the government. It’s not in our hands [to rezone].

Silberstein: To be clear, we have a plan. We have a book with all the specifics and the city is doing a larger rezoning and so our plan is now becoming a component of their overall plan.

So when are we going to see your plan?

Sitt: As soon as the city decides on what they’re willing to live with.

So you’re saying you have a plan and the city has it, but it’s not in public review yet until the city rezones the area?

Silberstein: The time the public gets to review a plan like that is in the ULURP process. We want it to be in the ULURP process already. We were hoping that we would have been certified with the ULURP already. We were hoping they would have finished a year ago already.

So it’s not a question of which comes first, the chicken or the egg? In other words, the plan or the zoning change?

Sitt: I don’t know who you’re hearing what from. The city has a plan. We submitted a plan. The city knows exactly what we’re looking for and we’re waiting for them.

Taconic [Developers] owns nearly as much as we have in Coney Island and they haven’t even begun thinking about putting a pencil to paper, because they are saying they don’t want to spend that energy until they see the city go ahead and do the rezoning.

So it’s not the chicken or the egg. It’s the city or the city. The city’s in control. We then fill in the blanks. We’ve done our master plan work, but we’ll have to modify to fit in with what the city does.

Many preservationists in Coney Island are wondering about the amusement part. Among the question on their lips is will the amusement area be modeled after a Disneyland or Six Flags where people pay one price to get in or will it remain a free-flowing amusement park as it always has been?

[u]Sitt: So far the plan is the free-flowing [amusement area] and we really don’t have a choice. I don’t know how to enclose all that to have a Disney-type theme park with one control point or access point. We’re more urban and Coney Island, so we’re more free-flowing.

Others in Coney Island question whether the residential component will include some affordable housing?

In terms of residential, our goal is not necessarily just year-round residents.

A lot of our residential we hope are going to be folks on time share, folks that come and buy like two weeks out of the year and/or some second homeowners like they do at a lot of resort and vacation spots, but the biggest part that make up where people sleep is going to be the transient folks — people who sleep in the hotels and/or the time shares, as an example.

There’s no rule that says sorry, you are too wealthy to come visit Coney Island and sleep in a hotel. Part of democracy is you want anybody at any income level to welcome them to be able to sleep in Coney Island.

Moving to Red Hook, what are your plans for the former Revere Sugar Factory, which you are in the process of having demolished?

Sitt: Unlike Coney Island where for two years we’ve been submitting to the city plans, we’ve not submitted any plans so we’re still on the ground floor but we’re working on getting there.

Silberstein: When we went through the process of removing it from the business zone, we made a promise to the community that we were going to come back and work with them in developing a plan. We’re in the process of doing that.

The former Sugar factory site is in the mouth of the Erie Basin where several businesses for maritime use are located. How do you expect residents to live with that and will it force business out?

Sitt: Nothing has been there [on the Revere Sugar site] to move out for 30 years. It’s been vacant. It was owned by Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines.

Silberstein: The opportunity for the waterfront, as the mayor said the other day, is to reopen it. Recreate public access to it and introduce new uses. The other side to that coin is to make sure it’s done in a way that allows the mix of uses — some of the maritime stuff that’s there now and some of the new uses.

Sitt: Particularly there in Red Hook. In fact, people keep forgetting in that in the Fairway development, he [developer Greg O’Connell] included lots and lots of residential that have already taken up occupancy and from what I hear none of the residents have been complaining…so it’s a really good test for the future.

So do you anticipate some retail there?

Sitt: Absolutely. Jobs in that community are as important as jobs in Coney Island.

You were among the first of the entrepreneurs to reinvest in inner city America through strip malls and your Ashley Stewart clothing chain. Along with being a developer comes the responsibility of reshaping the borough of Brooklyn. What moral and ethical responsibilities do you feel you have toward the borough and its people in a broader sense?

Sitt: The reason why I’m doing developments in Brooklyn is because I care about my own neighborhood. This is the place I grew up. This is the place I moved back to live.

And though probably 90 percent of the work we do is outside New York, for us Brooklyn is very, very close to our heart and close to our passion.

I feel that Brooklyn is dramatically underserved and I want to see my town get the nice quality stuff that the rest of the United States has.

You go to small communities all over the United States and they’ve got good retail and good office buildings. They’ve got good residential buildings, rental buildings, condominiums, good places for families to go and be entertained and our servings in all these categories are pretty slim.

Silberstein: As of January 1, Joe will have a person who will focus on job development and job programs for the Coney Island project. That is earlier than any developer that I know of. We don’t even have a defined project yet. We certainly don’t have zoning yet and Joe is willing to invest and start creating and developing a jobs program so that the jobs created by the Coney Island project stay in the community.

That is an enormous commitment to the community early on.


©Courier-Life Publications 2007

[JManc]

i'm sorry but i'd hate to see coney island transformed into some corporate cheesy vegas knock-off. it's coney island for crying out loud...it's not supposed to be glitzy. :no:

[NYguy]

i'm sorry but i'd hate to see coney island
transformed into some corporate cheesy vegas knock-off. it's coney island
for crying out loud...it's not supposed to be glitzy. :no:

New doesn't mean "glitzy". Coney Island was much, much more than what it
is today. So if we're going to go with the history of what it is, or what
it should be, then that means building the types of developments that this
developer is proposing. People often say they don't want it to turn into
a "Vegas" or "Disney", but its those places that are the knockoffs...


(old Coney)

http://claweb.cla.unipd.it/home/pthompson/american_studies/images/luna%20park.jpg


http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/history/img/ci_lunapark2.jpg?


http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/history/img/ci_lunapark.jpg


http://timefreezephotos.com/postcards/coney.jpg


http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ny/kings/postcards/lunapk.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Night/aerswing.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Night/dragon.jpg


http://www.vintageviews.org/vv-3/amusement_parks/pix/amp02_005.JPG?


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Steeplechase/Parachute%20Drop/parachuteday.jpg?


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Steeplechase/Steeplechase%20Ride/oldsteeplechaseride.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Rides/dragonsgorge2.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Rides/dragonsgorge.jpg


http://history.amusement-parks.com/Luna/Promenades/20000leagues.jpg


http://www.brooklyn.net/img/dreamland_at_night.jpg


http://www.lib.umd.edu/NTL/lunapark-front.jpg


http://www.mcny.org/images/content/0/4/048.jpg

[KCtoBrooklyn]

i'm sorry but i'd hate to see coney island transformed into some corporate cheesy vegas knock-off. it's coney island for crying out loud...it's not supposed to be glitzy.

I agree completely. I wouldn't mind them building that glitzy vegas crap on anyother beach in the area, but not Coney. Come on. Have some respect for history.

Coney is one of my favorite spots. I don't think I would ever go that proposed monstrosity.

[NYguy]

I agree completely. I wouldn't mind them building that glitzy vegas crap on anyother beach in the area, but not Coney. Come on. Have some respect for history.


Maybe you didn't uderstand the post above...

[NYguy]

Daily News

Floating visions of new Coney I.
Developers imagine a Vegas-like entertainment destination

BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/427-BOROS450.jpg

A rendering of Thor Equities plans for a Coney Island hub. The firm calls it Stillwell Park.


Hotels, amusement rides, water parks, night clubs, light shows and residential and retail towers as far as the eye can see.

That's the new Coney Island that may begin to emerge this year.

In addition to hundreds of upscale housing units, big-name franchises like Nickelodeon, W Hotel and the House of Blues are being floated as possible components of the revitalization plan, sources familiar with some of the proposals have said.

Add to that a slew of entertainment attractions - including a state-of-the-art roller coaster designed to wind around buildings on Stillwell Ave. - and Coney Island could begin to resemble a Las Vegas on the Atlantic Ocean.

But until the 13-member Coney Island Development Corp. releases its long-awaited master plan, nothing but sand and water is certain for the neighborhood.

"You should have a big question mark over the whole thing," said Community Board 13 District Manager Chuck Reichenthal. "One doesn't know from day to day."

That hasn't stopped two developers from sinking big bucks into their plans.

Taconic Investment Partners, known for residential and office towers in Manhattan and other cities, has scooped up roughly 350,000 square feet of real estate since Coney Island revitalization plans were announced in 2003. Beside hopes of turning the famed Child's Restaurant into a restaurant and catering hall, Taconic has plans for residential and retail buildings on portions of at least six blocks between W. 22nd St. and W. 15th St.

"We've made what we feel is a valid presentation and proposal and we'll be very interested to see how the city responds," said Taconic founder Charles Bendit. "It's kind of like wanting to see how you did on your test in school."

More publicly than Taconic, mega-developer Thor Equities has submitted a $2 billion plan. Thor's proposal could include two hotels, an indoor water park, music venues and loads of glitz.

"Thor Equities is confident that its vision for the future of Coney Island will bring positive change to the neighborhood," said Thor spokesman Lee Silberstein. "Thor looks forward to integrating its strategic plan with that of the city and other real estate developers who are committed to redeveloping Coney."

A third party - longtime Coney Island developer Horace Bullard - also still owns property in the area, but has so far refused to say how he plans to develop it.

"Coney Island's economy really has to be a year-round one to be sustainable," Mayor Bloomberg said in announcing the formation of the Coney Island Development Corp. in 2003. "It can't be just tied to the baseball season or to warm weather."


http://www.nydailynews.com/images/graphics/coneyislandmap.jpg

1. New York-based Taconic Investment Partners hopes to build residential and retail on 100,000 square feet of land on four parcels between W. 16th and 20th Sts. between Mermaid and Surf Aves. Taconic also plans:

* Residential and retail space on 180,000 square feet of land between Surf Ave. and the Boardwalk at W. 21st St.

* Child's Restaurant site is being eyed for a high-end catering hall between Surf Ave. and the Boardwalk at W. 21st St.

* Residential and retail space on 18,000 square feet between Surf Ave. and the Boardwalk at W. 22nd St.

2. A proposed new street, tentatively called Front St., to be built from the Parachute Jump to the Cyclone, spanning roughly 2,400 feet and used primarily as a pedestrian throughway.

3. Bowery St., currently composed of penny arcades, fast food restaurants and small rides, could turn into five blocks of retail and restaurants. Along W. 15th and 16th Sts., however, developer Horace Bullard still owns property and hasn't said publicly what he plans to do with it.

4. Stillwell Ave. south of Surf Ave. would become "Stillwell Walk" and serve as the main thoroughfare of Coney Island, with open-air cafes and retail along a cobblestone street. A 4,000-foot rollercoaster designed by Switzerland-based Intamin AG is also in the works.

5. Called "Splash," this 150-foot observation deck with holographic displays, light shows and water mist, would be the first thing people see upon exiting the Stillwell Ave. subway station. A rooftop beer garden, with views of Brooklyn and the Atlantic Ocean, is also in the works.

6. Anchored by one of two planned hotels, this 75,000- square-foot glass-encased water park would soar eight stories and sit atop a parking garage.

W Hotel and Nickelodeon, among other hoteliers, are in talks, sources said.

7. The second of two hotels planned for Coney Island would sit above an entertainment attraction, which sources said could be a live music venue.

A source close to House of Blues said the franchise was looking seriously at expanding to New York.

8. The former Astroland amusement park would be reimagined as another park, this one glass-enclosed and potentially three stories tall. The Burbank-based Thinkwell Design and Production is currently designing amusement rides.

9. Developer Thor Equities plans to build residential near the Boardwalk between W. 15th St. and Stillwell Walk.

[NYguy]

Daily News

B'klyn fun park, by power of Thor
Behold, the future of Coney Island! Soaring gondolas, manmade canals & a mega-coaster part of $250M plan.

http://www.nydailynews.com/images/editors/rope0125.jpg


http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/43-ConeyPark1.JPG

Artist renderings for the proposed Coney Park, which is expected to be completed by 2011. The $250 million park will be double the size of Astroland.

BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM

Good-bye, Astroland, hello "Coney Island Park."

The big-bucks developer who bought Coney Island's oldest amusement park plans to replace it with a glitzy $250 million playground anchored by a roller coaster that dips under the Boardwalk, the Daily News has learned.

Double the size of Astroland, the multitiered park will include 21 rides, a hotel, a manmade canal for boat rides, a glass-encased atrium and commercial space.

"We're trying to deliver on the promise of what Coney Island is," said Chris Durmick, creative director of Thinkwell Design & Production, the California group that is drawing up the 6-acre plan. "Whatever you come looking for at Coney Island, it's all going to be there."

Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert, whose family had owned the gritty but storied park since 1962, sold the site to developer Thor Equities in November for an unspecified amount.

Coney Island Park, slated to open in 2011, would be one component of a 13-acre, $1.5 billion plan by Thor that includes an indoor water park and residential, retail and entertainment components.

The flagship ride is the "Leviathan," a 100-foot-tall coaster with loop-de-loops that dips under the Boardwalk before flying back aboveground.

Including the Cyclone and another coaster planned for Stillwell Ave., it would be the third for the area.

Another marquee ride, the Aviator, would soar 120 feet, with gondolas guided individually by hand-held joysticks.

[kenratboy]

Wow, that just HAS to be built! It needs to be Corny, stupid, and wasteful - something totally off the wall that people will grow to love.

I approve.

[NYguy]

Wow, that just HAS to be built! It needs to be Corny, stupid, and wasteful - something totally off the wall that people will grow to love.

I approve.

It NEEDS to be is something that will draw people there the entire year, not just the few months anyone goes there now.

Glad you approve.

[NYguy]

Daily News

CONCERTED EFFORT IN CONEY IS.

By RICH CALDER
February 1, 2007

Jones Beach could soon be facing stiff competition from Coney Island in attracting A-list performers.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Councilman Domenic Recchia Jr. are confident they'll convince the city to build a $30 million to $35 million, 5,000-seat amphitheater at Asser Levy Park.

[NYguy]

Daily News

Beep sets stage for new venue
Amphitheater push in tonight's speech

BY RACHEL MONAHAN
February 1, 2007

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/372-marty_markowitz.JPG

Marty Markowitz


Creating a world-class summer amphitheater in Coney Island to rival Jones Beach will be one of Brooklyn's top priorities in 2007, Borough President Marty Markowitz said yesterday.

As he prepared to unveil his plans in his State of the Borough address tonight, Markowitz told the Daily News he wants to create a roofed venue at Asser Levy Park, on the spot where he has sponsored concerts since 1991.

"When the major, major summer tours occur ... I propose that Brooklyn - Coney Island - be an additional seasonal concert venue," Markowitz said a day ahead of his speech to be given at the Brooklyn Navy Yard's Steiner Studios.

"I'm going to be making a major investment - and working closely with the Department of Parks and Recreation and the New York City Economic Development Corporation - to make this proposal a reality."

The borough president - though often relegated to what Markowitz called being the "chief nudge" - has a capital budget of nearly $58 million for this fiscal year.

The amphitheater would fit well with other developments proposed for Coney Island after a rezoning to occur in the next year, he said.

Markowitz also has other ambitious designs for making Brooklyn a concert mecca.

By revamping Flatbush's long-shuttered Loew's Kings Theatre, Markowitz also hopes to bolster the neighborhood's economy.

"What I envision is the Beacon Theater and the Apollo Theater rolled into one," he said.

The Kings Theatre, which opened in 1929, has stood vacant for 30 years.

In its heyday, the theater hosted up to 3,000 people for movies and vaudeville acts.

Markowitz also hopes to get the ball rolling on creating a new high school dedicated to training students for well-paid careers in advertising.

In addition to new commitments, Markowitz's speech is expected to highlight his notable achievements in the last year, including the inauguration of the Brooklyn Book Festival and the docking of the borough's first cruise ships in Red Hook.

[NYguy]

Posted on curbed.com

Destructoporn: Thor's Hammer Starts Banging Coney Island

http://www.curbed.com/2007_02_Coney%20Demo%201.jpg


http://www.curbed.com/2007_02_Coney%20Demo%202.jpg


http://www.curbed.com/2007_02_Coney%20Demo%203.jpg


Demolition equipment dispatched by Thor Equities has gotten to work in Coney Island, tearing up go-kart tracks, batting cages and mini-golf courses near the boardwalk. We took the shot above over the weekend when it felt like it was seriously below zero in Southern Brooklyn's future year-round destination. Last week, Thor publicly threatened to walk away from the project if it doesn't get the zoning it wants to build luxury highrises on the boardwalk. There have been some concerns that the early demolition work is intended to increase pressure for quick approval of Thor's plans.

[NYguy]

Thor's website for his part of the Coney Island redevelopment...
http://www.thefutureofconeyisland.com/

[NYguy]

NY Sun

City Signals No-Go for Coney Island Luxury Tower
Land Use

By ELIOT BROWN
February 15, 2007


Developer Joseph Sitt's plan to revitalize Coney Island with new amusements financed with profits from luxury housing is facing new resistance from the city.

Yesterday, the chairwoman of the Department of City Planning, Amanda Burden, criticized Mr. Sitt's plan to include a luxury tower in the beachfront district that is zoned for amusements.

"Amusements are incompatible with immediate adjacent residential use," Ms. Burden said at a Crain's New York breakfast presentation in Midtown.

Mr. Sitt's Thor Equities has planned a $2 billion complex for the area, which would contain a large amusement component, both indoor and outdoor, and retail. The developer says it must finance the amusements with the inclusion of about 700 luxury condominiums along the boardwalk. Market studies show that they need both the extra people and added revenue from the units to make the development financially viable, Thor Equities has said. Last month, the developer threatened to scuttle its plans for the amusement park if the city disallows the residential apartments.

The city is in the midst of creating a comprehensive plan for the area, which would include rezoning to allow for the amusement complex and nearby residential development. Ms. Burden said rezoning the area for the allowance of residential units in the surrounding area is important for the project, but apartments in the heart of the amusement district would detract from the overall revitalization of Coney Island. Any zoning change would need to pass through the city's uniform land use review process, and requires approvals from the Planning Commission and the City Council.

A spokesman for Thor Equities, Lee Silberstein, said that discussions with the city are ongoing.

"We continue to work with the administration to formulate a plan that can be implemented for Coney Island," Mr. Silberstein said.

As the company dances with the city over the possible inclusion of condominiums, it has been ramping up efforts to sell the project to the community. Thor Equities launched a website for the project last week, which does not mention plans for the residential units, and recently sent out cards to neighbors promoting the potential development.

In her talk yesterday morning, Ms. Burden also said that a plan for a rezoning in the Manhattan's Garment district would soon be revealed. The rezoning would not call for the addition of residential in the area, she said, once a thriving apparel manufacturing district.

[NYguy]

Observer

Sitt Buckles Into Coney Rollercoaster
‘We’re stuck in the bureaucracy,’ says the man who plans to develop Coney Island. He wants Planning Director Amanda Burden to get out of his way.

http://www.observer.com/data/articleimages/photoimages/031207_article_schuerman.jpg

Amanda Burden, the city’s Planning Director, has said she isn’t a fan of condos next to any future Coney Island amusement hub.

By Matthew Schuerman

Joe Sitt, a 42-year-old developer who has bought up Coney Island’s core, got stung a few weeks ago. The city’s planning director, Amanda Burden, knocked the economic engine that’s supposed to drive the whole thing—condominiums—months before the official rezoning process had even begun.

Luxury condominiums, Ms. Burden said at a Feb. 14 Crain’s New York Business breakfast, should not be “adjacent” to amusements.

Suddenly, Mr. Sitt finds himself $60 million lighter, his prime strategy to turn nostalgia into profits—two residential towers mixed in among the rides and the retail of a modern-day Coney Island—in disarray. Most recently, he was lambasted in the press because he required some vendors to sign gag orders as a condition for staying beyond their leases.

“We’re stuck in the bureaucracy of government,” Mr. Sitt told The Observer in a March 1 interview. “It’s just crazy that somebody from government would want us to mothball this entire thing for five or 10 years, to leave it to another administration to make it happen.”

Mr. Sitt, a businessman who founded the Ashley Stewart clothing chain at age 26 and climbed the ladder of bigger and bigger deals ever since, doesn’t blame Ms. Burden directly; he hardly knows her. He blames the low-level city planners he has dealt with, who he says resisted—at least at first—his $2 billion vision to reinvigorate Coney Island by bringing back its eclecticism.

“It is not the uniform office tower or residential tower that a lot of these folks at the junior-most levels of government are used to dealing with,” Mr. Sitt said. “This is Coney Island. This is zany. This is different. When somebody says to me, ‘You want to be careful what you want to do with Coney Island; make sure you don’t do anything too freaky here,’ I say, ‘Are you aware of the fact that this was the place where there were people like the Fat Lady and the Skinny Man and the Bearded Lady? What do you mean, you don’t want any restaurants in Coney Island?’”

A PRODUCT OF GRAVESEND, BROOKLYN, MR. SITT was sitting in his lower Fifth Avenue office, wearing an immaculately pressed, cuff-linked blue shirt that belied the chaos around him. Secretaries walked in and out with papers for him to sign. When his publicist interjected an elucidating comment or two, Mr. Sitt would jump up from his ergonomic chair, pick up his desk phone and buy another piece of property somewhere. Then he would plunge back into the conversation.

“It was a little bit of an education process,” Mr. Sitt began, his voice steadily rising in a combination of genuine and manufactured indignation. “‘No, we don’t want any restaurants on Coney Island,’ they said. ‘We want to maintain the spirit of the history of Coney Island.’ And I said, ‘What are you talking about, the history of Coney Island? Coney Island had 232 restaurants at once!’”

(On the other hand, the only people who lived there were in that little shack underneath the Thunderbolt, memorialized in the movie Annie Hall.)

In some ways, Mr. Sitt jumped into the game too late to replicate the way another Brooklyn developer, Bruce Ratner, convinced the city and state to support a sports arena right next to a massive apartment village. Mr. Ratner saw a desolate rail yard in central Brooklyn and used it as a wedge to create an eight-million-square foot development. Mr. Sitt began buying property only four years ago, after the city constructed a minor-league baseball stadium and had already made its mind up to forge a community-led master plan for the neighborhood.

On the other hand, Mr. Sitt—unlike Mr. Ratner—never needs to use eminent domain. He has spent $150 million buying out dozens of landowners, according to reports, prying heirlooms from the families which created Nathan’s Hot Dogs and brought the Ferris wheel to New York City with the promise that he would put them to worthy use. After flipping land west of Keyspan Park to a residential developer for $90 million, Mr. Sitt is left with the four-block area next to the Cyclone roller coaster, the so-called amusement core.

The full-color renderings that he commissioned from architects Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn show a grown-up Disneyland with a giant martini glass, a roller coaster that passes through buildings, a jumble of shapes and extra dimensions that completely obliterates the street grid— even though it would actually add streets.

Mr. Sitt contends that 975 residential units—an unspecified mix of time-shares and condos—would provide the eyes and ears (and pocketbooks) that would make the complex work year round, to say nothing of compensating for the losses he expects from running the amusement area.

On a total square-foot basis, according to figures from Thor Equities, Mr. Sitt’s development firm, the apartments would constitute 34 percent of the square footage of the complex, while amusements would constitute only 14 percent. (Hotels, retail and parking would make up the rest.) The actual land area covered by the footprints of the residential towers would be much smaller, however—in part because one of the towers would rise 50 stories.

Despite Mr. Sitt’s confrontational rhetoric (a mark of desperation, or some sort of Brechtian government-relations strategy?), the Thor plan has a lot in common with the one dreamed up by the Coney Island Development Corporation, an offshoot of the city’s Economic Development Corporation with community members on its board. Hotels, restaurants and music venues would draw people until late at night; indoor amusements would be impervious to the cold; and together they would produce enough revenue to justify the latest gizmos.

“Thor is not necessarily the enemy. A lot of what they are proposing is exactly what we want,” said Dick Zigun, the founder of the Coney Island Circus Sideshow and a member of the Coney Island Development Corporation. “We want affluent people from around the world to come and spend a week here and spend a lot of money. But people who come here for a week want the noise and excitement; people raising families complain. People renting apartments across the street complain on a regular basis as it is.”

He added, “If Thor presented a plan that was 85 percent amusements and 15 percent condos, I would not vote for it—but it would not surprise me if it went through.”

While city officials wouldn’t respond directly to the charges of juvenilia, they did assert that they are following the direction laid out in September 2005, when the Coney Island Development Corporation approved an 18-page “strategic plan” outlining what sort of uses would be permitted where along the entire peninsula. It called for rezoning blocks to the north and west of Keyspan Park to permit apartments, and to increase the density of some other residential areas, adding another 8,000 residents or so.

But the area where Mr. Sitt is focusing would be reserved for “active and historic amusements” and “extended seasonal entertainment.” (Current zoning only permits things like amusement parks, sports facilities, miniature golf and boating facilities—even sit-down restaurants are prohibited.) That said, city planning officials are stressing that residential development wouldn’t be appropriate right next to amusements, but they leave open the question of how the two uses would co-exist if they were a block away from each other.

“There is an inherent land-use conflict when you put a use that we hope would be a 24-hour use, where there would be bright lights and noise and crowds, right next to residential,” said Purnima Kapur, director of the Brooklyn office of the Department of City Planning. “You don’t want somebody’s windows opening up right onto that.”

STILL, MR. SITT SAID THAT HE WAS LED TO BELIEVE that the development corporation approved of residential uses and pointed to a public statement made by Mayor Michael Bloomberg this January calling for “a diverse use of a piece of land if it’s really going to succeed.”

City officials say that the Mayor’s statement referred to the larger Coney Island neighborhood, not the amusement core. Mr. Zigun, the member of the Coney Island Development Corporation, acknowledged that an architecture firm working as a consultant to the city, Arquitectonica, had once suggested a plan that incorporated residential into the core, but the plan was quickly dismissed.

At one point in his interview with The Observer, Mr. Sitt said: “I could care whether it was hotels, condos, time-shares—I want humans.” But a spokesman for Mr. Sitt said later that hotels and time-shares wouldn’t make the project financially viable enough without condos.

To make his argument, Mr. Sitt even commissioned a telephone poll of 400 randomly selected residents of the Coney Island City Council district; it showed that 62.1 percent supported residential housing “in or near the boardwalk.” When asked whether they would change their minds if “a limited amount” was needed in order to make the amusements, restaurants, retail and “hundreds of new jobs,” about half of the opponents ended up supporting the idea.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sitt complains about the city’s slow pace. The Department of City Planning anticipates issuing zoning recommendations by the summer. The Coney Island Development Corporation expects to begin the land-use process by the end of the year, meaning that the area will not be rezoned until mid-2008.

“The city is going to take the time to get it right,” Ms. Kapur said. “The area has been in decline for over 40 years. We need to make sure all the constituencies are on board, and that takes time.”

Mr. Sitt is now pulling down buildings, making it clear that the old Coney Island will enjoy one more summer—but only one. He owns all the property and could try to starve Coney Island until he gets the residential zoning that he wants. It is another matter, though, whether Ms. Burden will give in.

[NYguy]

NY Sun

New York Aquarium Chooses New Design

By ELIOT BROWN
March 7, 2007

The New York Aquarium has chosen a design for its new exterior, a giant, wavy, cage-like enclosure with an aquatic theme, sources tell The New York Sun.

The design, created by a Philadelphia-based firm, Wallace, Roberts & Todd, and Barcelona-based Cloud 9, is intended better to blend the aquarium's multiple Robert Moses-era buildings with the nearby beach. The Coney Island-based aquarium sits at the end of string of parking lots and currently has no direct access to the neighboring boardwalk or ocean.

The aquarium, which is owned and operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society, selected the design from three finalists about two months ago, though it has withheld a formal announcement, the sources said.

The plans for the site tie into a larger effort to revitalize the bygone amusement hub, which now lies eerily dormant for half the year.

Representatives at WCS did not return calls for comment and a spokeswoman for Wallace, Roberts & Todd declined to comment.

Coney Island natives, who have long viewed the exterior of the aquarium as uninviting, welcomed the decision to revamp the 50-year-old complex.

"The aquarium has always been hidden away and walled in," a Coney Island historian, Charles Denson, said. "You can't see the ocean from the aquarium. It's right on the Atlantic, but there's nothing that connects it to the beach."

WCS, in conjunction with the city's Economic Development Corporation, began a design contest for the new exterior last summer, asking companies to make a design that could serve as a beacon for the area. About 25 companies made submissions, and the winner was to be announced in the fall.

A spokeswoman for the EDC, which is involved in implementing a strategic plan for the Coney Island area, Janel Patterson, said the EDC and WCS are working out details of the project and do not have a specific time line for construction.

"The perimeter design is really quite a large undertaking — it can't be done all at once," she said. "We want to be sure we're scheduling the correct phasing with funding that becomes available."

The city has sought to revitalize Coney Island for years, and the planning department is working on a rezoning for the area that would allow for new development.

A private developer, Thor Equities, has bought several lots in the area, including the Astroland amusement park, and is engaged in a publicity campaign promoting its plans for a giant new entertainment complex complete with an indoor water park, retail stores, and restaurants to the southwest of the aquarium.

However, the company is seeking to build luxury condominiums in the heart of the district, a plan the city opposes.

Until any development can go forward in the amusement district, Mr. Denson said the aquarium will be one of few sites that will draw people to the area, as Thor plans to close Astroland this fall and continue clearing the land on its other properties.

"It's going to be one of the main attractions in Coney Island," he said. "There's not much left."

[-GR2NY-]

Equally spectacular, Sitt hopes, will be a blimp that will take off from the complex’s roof, carrying tourists on joyrides over the city as it flashes the resort’s name in giant technicolor letters: THE BOARDWALK AT CONEY ISLAND.

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be one of the first to ride I garantee, this is one of the coolest things I've seen come out of New York other than the skyscraper.

:worship:

[Jularc]

:tup: Cool news about the Aquarium! I like this design the most.

Here are a few more renderings...

http://www.curbed.com/2006_10_Aquarium-Plan.JPG

http://www.curbed.com/2006_10_Aquarium-Boardwalk.JPG

http://www.curbed.com/2006_10_Aquarium-Side.JPG

http://www.curbed.com/2006_10_Aquarium-Model.JPG

[Thskyscraper]

:previous: That's spectacular!

[NYguy]

:tup: Cool news about the Aquarium! I like this design the most.

Here are a few more renderings...

http://www.curbed.com/2006_10_Aquarium-Boardwalk.JPG

http://www.curbed.com/2006_10_Aquarium-Model.JPG

Very nice indeed...

A spokeswoman for the EDC, which is involved in implementing a strategic plan for the Coney Island area, Janel Patterson, said the EDC and WCS are working out details of the project and do not have a specific time line for construction.

"The perimeter design is really quite a large undertaking — it can't be done all at once," she said. "We want to be sure we're scheduling the correct phasing with funding that becomes available."

The best days of Coney Island may be ahead...

[NYguy]

Observer

Sitt Buckles Into Coney Rollercoaster
‘We’re stuck in the bureaucracy,’ says the man who plans to develop Coney Island. He wants Planning Director Amanda Burden to get out of his way.

http://www.observer.com/data/articleimages/photoimages/031207_article_schuerman.jpg

Amanda Burden, the city’s Planning Director, has said she isn’t a fan of condos next to any future Coney Island amusement hub.

Luxury condominiums, Ms. Burden said at a Feb. 14 Crain’s New York Business breakfast, should not be “adjacent” to amusements.

On a total square-foot basis, according to figures from Thor Equities, Mr. Sitt’s development firm, the apartments would constitute 34 percent of the square footage of the complex, while amusements would constitute only 14 percent. (Hotels, retail and parking would make up the rest.) The actual land area covered by the footprints of the residential towers would be much smaller, however—in part because one of the towers would rise 50 stories.

“Thor is not necessarily the enemy. A lot of what they are proposing is exactly what we want,” said Dick Zigun, the founder of the Coney Island Circus Sideshow and a member of the Coney Island Development Corporation. “We want affluent people from around the world to come and spend a week here and spend a lot of money. But people who come here for a week want the noise and excitement; people raising families complain. People renting apartments across the street complain on a regular basis as it is.”

But the area where Mr. Sitt is focusing would be reserved for “active and historic amusements” and “extended seasonal entertainment.” (Current zoning only permits things like amusement parks, sports facilities, miniature golf and boating facilities—even sit-down restaurants are prohibited.) That said, city planning officials are stressing that residential development wouldn’t be appropriate right next to amusements, but they leave open the question of how the two uses would co-exist if they were a block away from each other.

“There is an inherent land-use conflict when you put a use that we hope would be a 24-hour use, where there would be bright lights and noise and crowds, right next to residential,” said Purnima Kapur, director of the Brooklyn office of the Department of City Planning. “You don’t want somebody’s windows opening up right onto that.”

I can see both sides of the story here. While I agree that it may not be completely appropriate for luxury towers in the middle of the amusement zone, is it really gonna make much difference even being just a block away? Wouldn't anyone who moved there be aware in advance that it was the heart of CONEY ISLAND?

It's like someone moving into a building accross the street from the Empire State, then suddenly complaining because they don't like tall buildings.

__________________________________________________________


More from curbed.com

Coney Island #2: Thor Boss Says Haters Just Don't Get It

http://www.curbed.com/2007_03_burdenvs.jpg

After the city—and planning director Amanda Burden specifically—took some wind out of Thor Equities' sails by saying high-priced condos may not be such a good thing for a redeveloped Coney Island, Thor chief Joseph Sitt tried various approaches. First, he threatened to pull the whole $2 billion plan off the shelf. That made us seriously consider seppuku, so he scaled back the threats and instead tried to show the community how awesome Thor's plan is, while kinda-sorta hiding the housing thing. Now Sitt is on to Phase 3, granting a one-on-one interview with the Observer so he can attack the "bureaucracy" and criticize those who cannot comprehend his vision:

“It is not the uniform office tower or residential tower that a lot of these folks at the junior-most levels of government are used to dealing with,” Mr. Sitt said. “This is Coney Island. This is zany. This is different. When somebody says to me, ‘You want to be careful what you want to do with Coney Island; make sure you don’t do anything too freaky here,’ I say, ‘Are you aware of the fact that this was the place where there were people like the Fat Lady and the Skinny Man and the Bearded Lady? What do you mean, you don’t want any restaurants in Coney Island?’”

Did you ever think Shoot the Freak would be equated with luxury high-rises? Of course you did.

[NYguy]

Observer

On a total square-foot basis, according to figures from Thor Equities, Mr. Sitt’s development firm, the apartments would constitute 34 percent of the square footage of the complex, while amusements would constitute only 14 percent. (Hotels, retail and parking would make up the rest.) The actual land area covered by the footprints of the residential towers would be much smaller, however—in part because one of the towers would rise 50 stories.

Post on the Gowanus Lounge...
http://gowanuslounge.blogspot.com/2006/08/please-ignore-ugly-coney-island.html

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[Jularc]

I hope they get built. The big tower seems interesting.

[NYguy]

I hope they get built. The big tower seems interesting.


The City wants the towers moved about a block away. I don't see that it makes much difference, but we'll see what's worked out.

[NYguy]

Daily News

Parks set on Coney ad-venture
Asks bids on rock-climb wall, trapeze

BY JIMMY VIELKIND
March 19th 2007

The Parks Department is taking a second crack at spicing up the Coney Island beachfront with action-packed activities after similar plans fizzled last season.

The agency is looking for contractors to operate "rock-climbing walls, rappelling walls, trampolines, ropes courses and trapeze," according to a request for bids released recently.

"Parks may also consider proposals for the operation of water sports activities, such as 'banana boat' rides or parasailing, as part of this concession," the document said. "The rental or operation of Jet Skis or any other personal watercraft, however, will not be permitted."

Bids are due in mid-April, but agency officials couldn't say whether things would be up and running by summer. A similar request last year drew no respondents, but the agency has increased advertising and outreach efforts.

"We're not sure why we didn't get responses the last time around - it might have been a question of people seeing the ads too late," said Parks Department spokesman Eric Abramson, noting that the agency is also "talking it up" to current Coney Island business owners.

The hope is that what is currently a lightly used parcel in Steeplechase Plaza near KeySpan Park just off W. 19th St. will become an extension of the amusements east of Stillwell Ave. - some of which have been cleared by developer Thor Equities as it bids to develop housing and rides in the area.

But there may be a deeper problem. Despite ongoing efforts to revitalize the neighborhood's amusement district and convert it to year-round operations, business is still very seasonal.

That could make it hard for an operator to recoup the initial investment required for a business - which one veteran operator estimated at roughly $1 million.

"It sounds like they would want a fortune just to go in there," said Rich Welter, a former Long Islander who now owns Sunset Watersports in Key West, Fla. "At 50 bucks for a parasail ride, you've got to do a lot of rides to make it happen."

Parks Department officials remain optimistic and have expanded last year's request to include Orchard Beach in the Bronx. Several bidders showed up for a site tour in Coney Island last week.

"People like all different kinds of recreation, and while Coney Island already has many offerings, this is just another avenue to increase the variety of our recreational offerings," Abramson said.

[NYguy]

NY Sun

Astroland Is Prepared To Ride Into the Sunset

http://www.nysun.com/pics/51181_main_large.jpg

Coney Island's Astroland prepares to open for its last season this year.

By ELIOT BROWN
March 26, 2007


Workers at Coney Island's Astroland did over the weekend what they do every spring: clean up the ticket booths and prepare the rides for the April 1 opening.

This year was different in that the opening will be the last of the annual rituals at Coney Island's only remaining true amusement park. A developer, Thor Equities, founded by Joseph Sitt, intends to shut it down in the fall to make room for a total overhaul of the area.

The owner of Astroland, Carol Hill Albert, who also owns the Cyclone roller coaster, sold the site to Thor in the fall for $30 million, property records indicate, a deal she said she was reluctant to make. "I couldn't risk going out of business," she said, contending that years of anticipated construction on Thor's property presented a large obstacle.

Ms. Albert, whose family has owned Astroland for all 40 years of its existence, said there were too many bureaucratic obstacles to year-round amusements on her site. "I think Joe Sitt has been taking all the city's attention and energy," she said.

A spokesman for the city's Economic Development Corporation, Andrew Brent, denied that preferential treatment was given to any developer and said the city was surprised when Ms. Albert sold the Astroland site to Thor last fall.

While the final season at Astroland may not signify the last chapter in the tale of Coney Island, it represents the end of a volume in the amusement hub's storied anthology. In place of the usual small-scale rides and game booths common in Coney Island history, there likely will be large parcels of amusements owned by a single operator, the executive director of the Coney Island History Project, Charles Denson, said.

The president of the nonprofit Coney Island USA, Richard Zigun, said that while he was disappointed with Astroland's closing, a large developer could be very beneficial for the area's revitalization efforts.

"The idea of assembling a 10-acre package for one developer to do lots of rides is a good thing," he said. But, like a growing chorus of area opponents, he is displeased with Thor's insistence on building residential units in the heart of the amusement district.

When Thor started buying land to develop new amusements a few years ago, the community, long awaiting a rebirth, reacted with excitement, Ms. Albert said.

As it became clear that Thor wanted nearly 1,000 residential units inside the district, opposition mounted, Ms. Albert said, adding that her financial analyses show that amusements are viable without condos.

"You could make money year-round in the amusement business in Coney Island by building a hotel or hotels instead of condos," she said.

Opponents of Thor's apartment proposal will conduct a protest at City Hall Friday.

A spokesman for Thor, Lee Silberstein, said the company is still discussing the plan with the city.

[NYguy]

NY Post

CYCLONE SWIRLS AROUND CONEY ISLAND BUILDER

By RICH CALDER
March 26, 2007

City officials have come out swinging against the developer promising a Vegas-glitz makeover for Coney Island's prime real estate - saying he's nothing but a huckster with a history of flipping properties for a fast buck.

Several officials told The Post they're concerned that Joseph Sitt's next selling spree could involve the massive assemblage of beachfront land his Thor Equities has bought up in Coney Island - especially if City Hall doesn't allow his planned $2 billion entertainment complex to include luxury housing.

"The guy has a track record of flipping land for big bucks," said one source close to the project. "He's done it already in Coney Island and other Brooklyn projects like [Downtown Brooklyn's] Albee Square Mall, and who's to say he won't play the city again?"

Chuck Reichenthal, a member of the city's Coney Island Development Corp., is worried Thor will hold up the plan either by selling out or by holding out to see if the next mayor is willing to allow the housing.

"I look out my [Surf Avenue] office window, and what I see now is very sad," he said. "They're beginning to create a ghost town."

The war over Coney Island's future came to a boil last month when City Planning Chairwoman Amanda Burden said at a Crain's breakfast presentation that there was no room for housing in the seaside plan.

"Amusements are incompatible with immediate adjacent residential use," Burden said.

Lynn Kelly, president of the CIDC, was more cautious about criticizing Sitt.

"Is there a concern? Sure. But we're moving forward with our rezoning plan, and we're hopeful that, once it's complete, the developer will create something great for Coney Island," she said.

Other officials were more skeptical.

They note that when Sitt bought the Albee Square Mall on Fulton Street five years ago for $24 million, he talked about giving the gritty site the same type of Vegas-style makeover he's now pitching for Coney Island.

Instead, Sitt spent $10 million rehabbing the mall - which he renamed The Gallery at Fulton Street - but never followed through on his grand plan.

Then after the city rezoned to allow for larger development there, Sitt sat on the mall before finally agreeing last January to sell it for $125 million.

"It's a great deal for him and it's going to bring larger-scale development there by the new buyer, but it's not going to be the 'Bellagio of malls' that Sitt said he was going to turn it into," a source said.

In Coney Island, Sitt last year sold one of the properties he bought for $90 million - a 168,000-square-foot tract known as the Washington Bath House site - after the city said it would allow residential development there.

A spokesman for Thor Equities, Lee Silberstein, insisted that the company isn't planning to back out of Coney Island.

Thor is "confident that working [with the Bloomberg administration], it will be able to rebuild Coney Island as a place worthy of its great legacy," he said.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03262007/photos/news002.jpg

[NYguy]

Post on the Gowanus Lounge...
http://gowanuslounge.blogspot.com/2006/08/please-ignore-ugly-coney-island.html

http://static.flickr.com/79/206198547_bd0b51ea8c_o.jpg?

NY Post

'FREAK'-OUT OVER CONEY CONDO PLAN

By RICH CALDER
March 27, 2007

Get ready for a Coney Island freak show on the steps of City Hall.

A group upset over a developer's push to build luxury housing in the heart of the famed amusement district has organized a "No Condos in Coney" rally for Friday at City Hall - featuring burlesque performers and other quirky characters dressed in mermaid outfits, face paint and wild attire.

The hundreds expected to show support for the city's plan to make over the seaside amusement district without any residential buildings are then planning a march up Broadway that could rival the annual Mermaid Parade.

"This is going to be a celebration of the true spirit of Coney Island, which I believe [developer Thor Equities] can't comprehend," event organizer Diana Carlin, 33, said.

Asked about the rally, Thor issued a statement saying it "shares the view that Coney Island needs to be saved, which is why . . . Thor's plan calls for the largest investment ever made in new amusements."

[NYguy]

NY Post

CONEY IS. CONDO PULLBACK

By RICH CALDER
March 28, 2007

A developer proposing a $2 billion, Vegas-style entertainment complex for Coney Island is desperately trying to convince City Hall to back it by shifting more than 900 planned luxury condo units away from the boardwalk and into one 40-story tower.

Project spokesman Lee Silberstein revealed at a recent community meeting that Thor Equities is considering confining the project's controversial residential housing to Stillwell Avenue's west side near Surf Avenue.

That's a change from the previous proposal, which called for spreading the housing out in four Stillwell locations within the proposed 425,000-square-foot amusement complex.

The new plan would dramatically reduce a 515-foot-high tower slated for the Stillwell boardwalk to a height similar to the nearby 262-foot Parachute Jump; that tower would contain time-share residences.

The revisions would allow riders of the nearby Cyclone roller coaster to retain Parachute Jump views.

[Goody]

Proposal for the Coney Island Aquarium...


More Coney Island Aquarium Redo Renderings


http://ruiz-geli.com/media/11%20Competition/NYaquarium01.jpg


Wednesday, November 1, 2006

After yesterday's publication of a couple of more "visions" of the future Coney Island in all of its odd dystopian glory, the additional renderings and models from one of the finalists vying to redesign the butt ugly utilitarian New York Aquarium are almost a breath of fresh air. (At least, there are no mermaids with pumpkins on their asses.) It may or may not win and get built, but they're pretty cool. This is the propsal from WRT and Cloud9. More images after the jump if you click through.

Aquarium Design Proposal (http://ruiz-geli.com/)

BONUS: The city digs the Thor Coney vision. Coney Island Development Corp. interim president Joshua Sirefman tells the Post their latest renderings "show the right kind of energy that we've always talked about for Coney Island." But, Coney blogger Kinetic Carnival says they look like "lesser quality rejects" of drawings mistakenly released this summer and a "rehash."


Copyright © 2006 Curbed


that looks bad ass

[Scruffy]

damn. i thought having a 500 foot glassy looking tower overlooking the ocean would have been fantastic. I don't see an issue in building that there. coney Island was on its last legs. Its become entirely ghetto and rundown. It has only 2 rides worthy of its history. It needs a massive transfusion and this is it. the aquarium is better than i thought they were going to settle for. Because im such a fan of superlatives, ofcourse I wanted to have to have the biggest and best aquarium in the world but space is limited. (unless they want to build southwards onto a pier over the water. how cool would that be!!) The whole plan, the blimp, the giant ferris wheel on a pier, the tower, the cobbled stone street with the year round nightlife, this is all things that are needed and will bring in a new demographic that the park needs to maintain itself in the years to come. Status quo would be a disaster in less than a decade.

[Daquan13]

I read in the New York Post today that even though everything else may be on the chopping block, the Cyclone Roller Coaster will remain intact and will open yearly has it has done in the past 44 years.

[Derek]

that looks bad ass

it looks like a giant whale sucking in krill...


but i guess its cool:)

[NYguy]

The whole plan, the blimp, the giant ferris wheel on a pier, the tower, the cobbled stone street with the year round nightlife, this is all things that are needed and will bring in a new demographic that the park needs to maintain itself in the years to come. Status quo would be a disaster in less than a decade.

That's true. So many people want to leave Coney Island "as is", but that's just not going to work anymore. There's no reason, given it's history, the City should have to settle for things the way they are now. These new developments will go a long way towards bringing Coney Island back to its glory days. And having the attractions open year round instead of just half the year will be great. Imagine going to an active Coney around Christmas time and New Years eve....:tup:

[NYguy]

NY Post

ASTROLAND MAY GET 1 MORE RIDE

By RICH CALDER
April 3, 2007

It's not quite game over for Coney Island's fabled Astroland Park.

Developer Joe Sitt, who bought the 3.1-acre summer amusement park to incorporate into his planned, glitzy, Vegas-style complex, told The Post he's "willing to keep Astroland open" - or some form of it - for at least the 2008 summer season if his project is delayed.

"The last thing I want is for Coney Island to go dark," said Sitt.

On Sunday, Astroland opened for what was expected to be its final season, with Sept. 8 as its scheduled last day.

The developer and City Hall remain at odds over whether Sitt's firm, Thor Equities, should get the green light to include luxury condos in its proposed $2 billion, 10-acre, year-round entertainment project. Without the condos, the developer says the project doesn't make fiscal sense.

The Astroland sale has no effect on the park's most popular ride - the landmarke Cyclone roller coaster.

[Scruffy]

The only 3 things from current coney island that should be preserved are the cyclone, the wonder wheel, and the inactive parachute drop. everything else is expendable and i include in that the white up/ down observation tower with the scratched up windows.

[NYguy]

The only 3 things from current coney island that should be preserved are the cyclone, the wonder wheel, and the inactive parachute drop. everything else is expendable and i include in that the white up/ down observation tower with the scratched up windows.


The parachute jump is staying. I believe it's a city landmark now...

http://www.newyorkdailyphoto.com/images/ParachuteJump2.jpg?
newyorkdailyphoto.com


http://www.citynoise.org/upload/13428.jpg
citynoise.org


http://www.brooklynrecord.com/archives/27jump.jpg
brooklynrecord.com

[NYguy]

Huge Coney Island pan from:
newenergyoptions.com

http://www.newenergyoptions.com/menu-files/Industrial%20&%20Commercial%20PV_files/image001.jpg?

[-GR2NY-]

Unless the whackos in face-paint are going to be dropping millions to buy that land back, they're SOL. It's the united states, and money talks not clowns. The phrase isn't "clowns talk". Bring on the highrises, coney island is a cluster fuck of apartments as-is, whats the big deal?

[Scruffy]

great photo. i love the new coney island station soo much!!

[NYguy]

http://www.nysun.com/article/56790

Coney Developer Drops Condo Plan

June 18, 2007

Facing stiff opposition from the city and residents, a developer and major landholder at Coney Island has dropped his plans to build condominiums within the amusement district.

Development company Thor Equities is planning to revamp and modernize the storied amusement destination. Its principal, Joseph Sitt, has said he needed a large condominium tower to make the investment financially viable.

The plan for apartments near the boardwalk prompted a harsh response from the director of the Department of City Planning, Amanda Burden, who vowed to block residential development in the heart of the amusement district.

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/nyregion/18coney.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Coney Island Plan Is Scaled Back, but Critics Are Skeptical

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/06/18/nyregion/18coney-600.jpg

An artist’s rendering of an aerial view of Surf Avenue at Coney Island under a new plan for a renovated amusement complex there.


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/06/18/nyregion/coney650.jpg

The developer Joseph J. Sitt’s $1.5 billion plan for Coney Island includes a pulsating amusement area and three hotels, with architecture that invokes the old Luna Park and Dreamland.


By CHARLES V. BAGLI
June 18, 2007

The developer who wants to remake Coney Island’s amusement district has a new plan and says that you’re going to love it.

Joseph J. Sitt, who says his company has spent $120 million buying up land underneath and around the rides, said on Friday that he had “rolled over” in response to the criticism of his earlier plans for an entertainment and residential complex.

So the looming 40-story tower planned for the Boardwalk at Stillwell Avenue is gone. So are the hundreds of rental apartments and luxury condominiums in the old plan. The new proposal is less dense, he said, but has more of “the new, the edgy, and the outlandish” rides and attractions that America’s first resort was once known for.

“This is our way of showing the New York community that we’re responsive to what they want,” said Mr. Sitt, the founder and chief executive of Thor Equities, which buys and develops commercial, residential and retail properties nationwide. “Our design, in all its greatness, is a way of showing the world what Coney Island can be.”

Who could complain?

Well.

Robert Lieber, president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, described Mr. Sitt’s new plan as a “wolf dressed up as a sheep.” Mr. Lieber, along with neighborhood leaders and other city officials, had expressed fears that residents of new apartment buildings would not fit comfortably with the noisy, all-hours amusement district that would be preserved between West Eighth Street and the Aquarium and the minor league baseball stadium at West 16th Street.

The new plan keeps the concept of a new glass-enclosed water park, but instead of apartments calls for three hotels, including more than 400 time-share units, along with restaurants, shops, movie theaters and high-tech arcades. The latest renderings depict a pulsating entertainment complex with an Elephant Colossus statue and architecture that evokes the old Luna Park and Dreamland amusement parks.

Mr. Lieber and others say that the time-share units look an awful lot like apartments and that the complex looks more like a mall than Coney Island.

“He came in last week and presented a plan that had essentially the same density, but dressed it up with hotels and time shares,” Mr. Lieber said on Friday. “The building heights still exceed the 271-foot Parachute Jump,” a Coney Island landmark. “And he’s looking for a huge subsidy from the city. North of $100 million.”

The city has been working with local residents and property owners for nearly three years on a master plan for what everyone agrees is a dowdy area. The idea, they say, is to preserve the democratic, open-air quality of Coney Island’s culture and amusement district on the south side of Surf Avenue, while allowing for high-rise residential and retail development set apart from the rides, on the north side of Surf.

The Economic Development Corporation, along with the City Planning Department and the Coney Island Development Corporation, have been devising a rezoning proposal for Coney Island that will go through a public review process later this year.

“The community and the Coney Island Development Corporation have all indicated that residential and amusements don’t go together,” said Chuck Reichenthal, district manager of Community Board 13.

But Mr. Sitt says he believes the changes being proposed are too restrictive and would undercut his ability to redevelop the area.

Everyone agrees that the shrunken hulk of the amusement district is worth preserving, at the edge of a beach that still draws tens of thousands of people on the summer weekends. The question is how to turn it into a year-round attraction.

“Coney Island has changed its faces many times,” Mr. Reichenthal said. “The last Luna Park was in the mid-1940s. Steeplechase came down in the ’60s. But that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t remained a magnet. There’s a lot to do when people come down here. It’s still the place for people who don’t have a huge amount of money in their pocket to come and have a good time.”

Mr. Sitt, who is equal parts real estate entrepreneur and supersalesman, has been engaged in a game of chicken with the city over the future of Coney Island. Earlier this year, his team claimed that his project “isn’t a financially feasible investment” without high-rise housing. Over the winter, he knocked down the batting cages and the go-kart park in a move that harked back to the bad old days of empty lots.

Now he has taken the housing, at least all the units labeled apartments, out of his proposal, and he is betting that his new $1.5 billion plan will win the overwhelming support of local residents, if not all the officials at City Hall. The hotels, which range from 25 to 32 stories, have been moved to midblock, away from the Boardwalk.

Mr. Sitt has already spent a large sum buying up 10 acres behind the Nathan’s Famous hot dog stand from 30 different families, including the descendants of George C. Tilyou, founder of Steeplechase Park, and the owners of Astroland, an amusement park that embraces the 270-foot Astro Tower. Astroland is scheduled to close in September. The Cyclone roller coaster, which is a city landmark, will remain open.

Hear his pitch:

The hotels, Mr. Sitt said, would offer black residents not only jobs, but careers. The Russian immigrants, who enjoy a “quality of life and activity by the water,” would flock to the hotels and nightclubs. Jewish and Italian-American residents would get the “quality retail, bookstores and entertainment venues” that they want. As for everyone else, “what’s better than having fabulous restaurants, catering halls, shows and concerts?”

“Tell me, what issue any one of these constituencies would have with our plan,” he said. “We’re asking for motherhood, motherhood. Apple pie, Chevrolet and Coney Island.”

Pause for breath.

“Maybe I sound like a salesman,” Mr. Sitt said, “but I’m passionate about this.”

Jeff Persily, who has worked in the amusement district since 1960 and owns a penny arcade and other property on Bowery Street, agrees with the notion that the amusement area must be turned into a year-round attraction to survive. The city needs to change the zoning to allow for larger buildings, hotels, apartments, parking and retail, he said.

“They have a vision of open-air amusements,” Mr. Persily said. “We can’t afford to spend millions on new rides and only be open three months of the year.”

Would he sell out to Mr. Sitt? “At the end of the day, combining all the properties and building amusements, hotels and residential would be a wonderful thing for New York,” he said. “We’re talking about creating not hundreds of jobs but many thousands of jobs. I love Coney Island. I’d love to see it become what it once was when I was a kid.”

But not everyone trusts Mr. Sitt to deliver. They are concerned that he would convert his time-share units to apartments or flip the property to another developer who would change the plans.

Charles Denson, who grew up in Coney Island and now heads the Coney Island History Project, is fond of saying that Mr. Sitt could be a hero by saving the amusement district. But he said residential towers would overwhelm the amusements and “a big shopping mall is not Coney Island.”

The history project is running a show in the museum underneath the Cyclone roller coaster titled “Land Grab.” It depicts the development of Coney Island since the 1800s through aerial photographs.

“It’s the last ungentrified place in New York,” Mr. Denson said. “It’s still a poor man’s paradise. There’s something magical about it, the name, the reputation and the history.”

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/nyregion/18coney.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Coney Island Plan Is Scaled Back, but Critics Are Skeptical

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/06/18/nyregion/18coney-600.jpg

An artist’s rendering of an aerial view of Surf Avenue at Coney Island under a new plan for a renovated amusement complex there.


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/06/18/nyregion/coney650.jpg

The developer Joseph J. Sitt’s $1.5 billion plan for Coney Island includes a pulsating amusement area and three hotels, with architecture that invokes the old Luna Park and Dreamland.

Seems a lot of New Yorkers are disgusted with NIMBYs and a lack of progress here...

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2007/06/18/thor_unveils_coney_island_22_without_condos.php#more

[NYguy]

curbed.com

Coney Island #2: Meet the 'Freakenspiele' & 'Bizarre Bazaar'

http://www.curbed.com/2007_06_BoardwalkRendering.jpg

Some flesh was added to the bones of those Coney Island v 2.2 renderings last night, with Thor Equities theme park consultant bringing out a lot of previously unseen renderings and an overall description.

Highlights include a big tower near the boardwalk called the Freakenspiele (we're not sure of the spelling and Google comes up bone dry) with 40 foot LED screens and a free-fall ride in the middle.

Then, there's the Bizarre Bazaar, described as a "subculture souk" that is designed for an area that will be "the subculture suburb" and the home address of "the freaks." There's a giant elephant fountain.

An overhead "Steeplechase" roller coaster (not to be confused with the Leviathan that would go in and out of all the buildings). And, that indoor water park, which will be six stories up.

"It's street front, it's urban, it's New York," developer Joe Sitt said of the package. As for Astroland, the developer said "we're trying to keep things open" but noted that "Astroland did sell the business." He said "our goal is to make sure there is a similar concept there" rather than empty land next summer. We have to say we like the word 'freakenspiele.'

http://www.curbed.com/2007_06_Entertainment%20Plaza%20Rendering.jpg

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/nyregion/thecity/01cone.html?ref=thecity

The Call of the Wild Ride

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/07/01/nyregion/thecity/coney01600.jpg

By MARK CALDWELL
July 1, 2007


LEVIK, an 8-year-old on the loose at Coney Island, was ecstatic. He had come to the amusement park this late spring day with his classmates at the Lubavitcher Oholei Torah school in Crown Heights, which had rented Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park for the morning.

One contingent careered around the track on the miniature Big Wheel truck ride, each child excitedly swerving his own mercifully nonfunctional steering wheel. Another group headed to the Wonder Wheel, a terrifying attraction that has towered above the Boardwalk since 1920.

Levik considered his options. He praised the Sea Serpent, a gentle, child-sized roller coaster. But the Wonder Wheel? “No!” he replied firmly. “Too scary.”

That sentiment has been repeated frequently ever since the Wonder Wheel began not only spinning its passengers up and down as other Ferris wheels do, but also flinging them back and forth in sliding cars that convey the illusion that they’re going to slam into each other. (In fact, they miss each other by mere inches.) Along with the 1926-vintage Cyclone, its roller-coaster companion at the neighboring Astroland Amusement Park, the Wonder Wheel represents about all that’s left of early 20th-century Coney Island — the populist Elysium that made Nathan’s famous.

Once, Coney Island was an immense, chaotic, overpowering extravaganza of rides, shooting galleries, hot-dog stands, a six-story hotel shaped like an elephant, and three amusement parks that became the stuff of myth: Luna, Steeplechase, Dreamland.

By 1966, all of them had vanished, victims of fire, the wrecker’s ball and a long-term decline in the fortunes of Coney Island. Gone, also, were the fun-seeking hordes who had devoured them, driven out by decades of decay that culminated in a bloody riot in 1968.

The amusement area, which once sprawled from West 37th Street all the way to what is now the New York Aquarium, shrank to its present size, from Surf Avenue to the beach, between West 10th and 16th Streets. Huge tracts even of that stretch are vacant now, a landscape of weeds, fractured concrete and plywood fencing.

Nobody is happy with this situation. Local residents grieve over the neighborhood’s tattered state. The city wants to make Coney Island a magnet again, hoping, in the way of the Bloomberg era, to encourage private investment that will restore it to the roughneck glory of its midway and freak-show days.

In 2005, a prospective developer did indeed appear on the scene. Thor Equities, under its principal, Joseph Sitt, has bought up about half of the entertainment district in the critical blocks between KeySpan Park and the Cyclone, envisioning an investment of up to $2 billion. Late last year, Thor made its most monumental (and controversial) purchase when it bought up the land beneath Astroland, Coney’s largest surviving amusement area, and proposed to redevelop it with a bigger and brighter array of indoor and outdoor amusements stretching from Surf Avenue to the Boardwalk.

Mr. Sitt’s earlier plans called for some large apartment sites in the amusement district, including a 50-story tower on the Boardwalk. City officials and community activists, however, have been unbending in their commitment to keep apartments out. They recall a dark day in September 1966 when the developer Fred Trump, accompanied by six bikini-clad models and a bulldozer, began dismantling the famed 69-year-old Steeplechase Park for a never-built apartment complex.

Amanda Burden, chairwoman of the New York City Planning Commission, is adamant that the surviving amusement area not succumb to a beachfront residential enclave. “There is no way that will happen under this administration,” she said. And in fact, current zoning restricts the critical area to amusements; not even restaurants with table service are permitted, only food stands like Nathan’s.

But Mr. Sitt paid $30 million just for the 3.3 acres underneath Astroland. How could a collection of kiddie rides flanked by an 80-year-old roller coaster justify such a price without some other, plummier revenue stream? Over the last several weeks, Thor and the city have conducted intensive discussions in the effort to reach an accommodation that will preserve the amusement district but also repay the investment. Two weeks ago, in the most recent twist in the complicated plot, Thor offered to replace the residential elements of its plan with three hotels, including more than 400 time-share units, along with restaurants, shops, movie theaters and high-tech arcades.

Thus far, no agreement has been reached, and Coney Island seems caught in an up-and-down ride as wild as the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel. Time may well be running out. Deno’s appears safe for now: Levik and his classmates will probably be able to savor it next season. But Astroland, barring a last-minute reprieve, is entering its last summer. By next year it could be gone. And in the eyes of many, that would mark a final tailspin and smash-up for New York’s most beloved tatty playground.

Paradoxically, even as Coney Island’s infrastructure disappears, its long-absent crowds have been returning en masse. KeySpan Park opened at Surf Avenue and West 16th Street in 2001, bringing professional baseball back to Brooklyn in the guise of the Cyclones. A city-financed cleanup improved the beach and the surrounding streetscape. Then, in May 2005, a spectacular new Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station opened, replacing the grim original with a soaring arch that evokes grand European railway terminals. The city’s Parks Department estimates that last year more than 15 million people visited the beach and the Boardwalk, an increase of more than five million in three years.

The same morning that Levik was carefully choosing his next ride at Deno’s, the human landscape did look heartening. Despite the still-frigid surf, bathers were beginning to fill the beach. Young men did sit-ups on workout equipment in the sand. Children gathered under the metal palm trees that drenched them with a cooling spray.

A hundred yards down the Boardwalk, milling around the picnic tables outside Gregory and Paul’s — the blocklong food stand attached to Astroland — a group of South Asian girls were taking rides on the Cyclone. The girls were students at New Utrecht High School, and there was some debate as to whether school was still in session.

As a fresh carload of shrieking fun-seeking victims thundered down the track, a girl named Shezana emerged from the ride somewhat woozily. “I still feel like I’m falling down,” she said.

Her friend Farwa replied: “But screaming is good for your health.”

At least on the surface, much of Coney Island appears to be the thriving socially and ethnically diverse mosh pit it has always been, populated by bellowing teenagers and dignified elderly people, spenders and nonspenders, a maelstrom in which the Bermuda shorts and ankle socks of the American heartland mix with yarmulkes and Muslim veils, a place where carousel organ music and hip-hop amicably vie to drown each other out. The crowds exude an energy and a noisy verve rarely found anywhere in the city these days, an improbable but very real survival of the rough-and-ready, early-20th-century Coney Island.

At Astroland, Armmeen Williams was rapping into his wireless microphone to lure people into a balloon-shooting gallery: “Don’t be shy! Give it a try! Don’t hesitate! Participate! Two bucks! Try your luck!”

Nearby, an even earthier attraction beckoned: “Shoot the Freak: Live Human Target!” The Freak, green-eyed Enoz Gonzalez, darted around a littered vacant lot clad in Darth Vaderish armor, while his partner, Tommy Conwell, lured passers-by to an array of paint guns on the Boardwalk railing, with which they try to win prizes by splattering Mr. Gonzalez’s body.

He has been playing the Freak for three summers, and he likes the job. “There’s plenty of girls to talk to on the Boardwalk,” he explained.

Another amusement park stalwart is Dick Zigun, founder and artistic director of Coney Island USA, a group eager to incorporate in Coney Island’s future as many elements as possible of its past. Mr. Zigun spent his early years as a performance artist who strolled the Boardwalk in an antique bathing suit as the “Mayor of Coney Island.” He notes that Coney Island has managed to survive the bad times, and he expresses confidence that nothing will destroy its spirit. “Because of New York, our customers will always be multicultural, urban and half-naked,” Mr. Zigun said.

But will they keep coming if the amusements keep dwindling? The Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone still draw crowds; the 262-foot-high Parachute Jump, though closed, remains a striking sight, illuminated at night. All three are protected as city landmarks. Yet as demolition progresses, they’re surrounded by growing emptiness against a backdrop of Soviet-style high-rises in Bensonhurst.

Mr. Sitt promises free-access indoor and outdoor amusements with the same pay-per-ride arrangement now in effect at Deno’s and Astroland. He also voices the hope that displaced rental business tenants will return to the site.

“We’d like to have them back for local ‘flava,’ ” he said. But he added a warning. “Coney Island needs salvation,” he said. “And the longer we wait to begin, the harder it’s going to be.”

With Astroland now under the control of Thor, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park is almost the last vestige of what Ms. Burden of the City Planning Commission wants to preserve. Its founder, a Greek immigrant named Denos Vourderis, came to Coney Island in 1970 as a food service worker at Ward’s Kiddie Park, which had occupied the site since the 1940s. He learned the business and bought it in 1980, adding the Wonder Wheel in 1983. When Mr. Vourderis died in 1994, his son Dennis took over and remains in control, at least for now.

"So far, our plans are to stay open,” Dennis Vourderis said the other day, sitting at a picnic table next to the pizza counter, surrounded by the boys from Oholei Torah. “A lot of the people who come here can’t afford $20 a person just for admission. Twenty dollars a family for everything is more like it.”

Deno’s shuns the scripted, laundered atmosphere of corporate theme parks of the Disney and Six Flags ilk. “Here,” Mr. Vourderis said, “I put a teen from Brooklyn out in the sun for eight hours, and it’s hard to keep him cheerful. That’s the grumpy guy at the ride who yells ‘Siddown!’ at you.”

Mr. Vourderis revels equally in Coney Island’s eclectic, unpredictable palette of aromas.

“Maria’s popping corn at the snack bar right now; you’ll smell it in a minute,” he said. “Later you’ll smell shish kebabs. We put the Sweet Shop in the middle of the park: we could sell 25 percent more on the Boardwalk, but the candy apple smell pulls people in. Occasionally it mixes in with a machine oil smell from the rides. But the best part is the fresh sea smell, the ocean breeze in the morning.”

On a Saturday evening a couple of weeks ago, Astroland was even more crowded than Deno’s as Carol Albert, the park’s owner, patrolled her kiddie rides, shooting galleries and Ski-Ball games.

“What happened to my werewolf?” Ms. Albert asked a park worker, pointing to the fanged but comatose mechanical monster that sagged from a window above Dante’s Inferno, a mild scare ride. “He’s supposed to go off with a scream every 90 seconds,” she added, “but he seems to have been asleep the last couple of days.”

Earlier there had been a thunderstorm, but now people were streaming in, and rides were lighting up with a popping and glaring incandescence long vanished even from 42nd Street. Astroland’s painted signs, many of which are the work of local artists commissioned by the Alberts to preserve the park’s carny atmosphere, are deliberately louche, their lettering wobbly.

“Turn up the music!” Ms. Albert ordered an attendant at the carousel. Then she noticed a little boy of about 3 who was seated on a miniature antique fire engine ride and looked as if he was about to burst into tears. Ms. Albert pointed to the brass bell. “Ring the bell!” she sang out. “Go ahead, ring the bell!” As soon as he did so, his face lit up. His father began snapping pictures.

But the probable closing of Astroland after this summer adds a rueful undercurrent to Ms. Albert’s attachment. “We sold the real estate to Thor last fall,” she said. “And for us to stay open, they’d have to agree to lease the property back to us.”

Unless Thor agrees to such an arrangement, or unless the city succeeds in finding a new location for the park — and at this point there’s no firm prospect for either — Ms. Albert will have to sell off her rides and abandon the site, leaving patrons of the Cyclone and Wonder Wheel to stare at yet another gaping wasteland. Deno’s will stand nearly alone, save for a dwindling array of forlorn small concessions dotting the emptiness around it.

The city remains adamant that it will approve no plan that dilutes Coney’s character.

“That area between KeySpan Park and the Cyclone has to remain a totally democratic amusement park,” said Lynn Kelly, president of the Coney Island Development Corporation, a city- and state-financed entity. “We want people to be a part of it even if they don’t spend a dime.”

Ms. Burden agrees. “I was out there yesterday,” she said of the amusement area. “It was teeming with every race, age and demographic. It’s the most populist, communal, democratic place on earth. That has to remain. It has to be affordable to all New Yorkers.”

Mr. Sitt continues to affirm his desire that, whatever shape it eventually takes, Coney Island’s shrunken but so-far surviving amusement complex will roar back with a 21st-century vigor, gaudier, with more harrowing rides, and crowds just as diverse but bigger than ever.

Nothing, however, has been settled. Will the amusement- and conference-oriented hotels that Mr. Sitt recently suggested satisfy everyone, including the developer, the community and the city, perhaps by bringing a critical mass of patrons to the area 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? Possibly.

But how big might these hotels be, and where, exactly, would they be? At this point, no one will venture an opinion.

Community activists, surviving small-business owners and Coney Island freaks of all descriptions are queasy. This feels like the moment when the Cyclone cars approach the 86-foot-high apex of the ride. Breathing is taut; anticipation is building.

Everyone aboard wants the thrill; everybody wants fun, including, perhaps, a good cathartic scream. But everybody also hopes the ride will stay on the rails.


Mark Caldwell is the author of “New York Night: The Mystique and Its History.”

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[Scruffy]

damn. looks the idea to put a mammoth ferris wheel on a pier is gone. that would have been such a huge attraction. curses

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

It seems like if you're going to do it, then DO it. I'm not sure about this, but I imagine vintage Coney Island was just as over-the-top and audacious during its initial development in the late 19th Century as these glitzy renderings envision it for the 21st. Some of the more aggressive renderings really make it look like a psychedelic dreamscape. Isn't this the best way to preserve the spirit of the place?

The architects should open their minds as much as possible and make this place as fantastical as their imaginations allow. And fantastical doesn't mean Vegas, which is more often than not derivative and uncreative. In fact, they shouldn't even think about Vegas when they're planning.

The newest renderings are, I think, an unfortunate departure, too staid for a place that should be anything but.

[Scruffy]

version 2 doesn't look exciting enough for what coney island should be. i have just spent the entire week at coney island and honestly i freakin love it. i used to think it was so trashy but ive had so much fun. at the beach, at the pier, in the parks, at the aquarium. i will be going back all summer, it was really fun. i didn't have my camera all week but i took pics the day i did. now as much fun as coney island is, i do feel that i can be better. but im starting to think that the overly commercial proposals will not work. it also looks rather expensive for locals to visit.

coney island train station. the solar paneled train shed not shown
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC06613.jpg

boardwalk. several parts are in need of maintenance.
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC06619.jpg

the point. low income housing that would undoubtedly gentrify and be cleaned up should the coney island revamp actually happen. in this case thats not such a bad thing
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC06621.jpg

the park with surrounding projects
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this beach is fuckin awesome. i know its not the best in NYC. breezy point is but its the most fin ive had at a beach ever. (except for maybe gunnison, sandy hook, for those in the know)
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the water is cold only for the first 45 minutes, then it feels good. we went swimming but you don't want to see pics of me with my shirt off
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aquarium. and i love this pic
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the are the blocks that will house the majority of the new developments
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train shed at coney island stop
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i really hope they keep the Wonder Wheel
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC07140.jpg

A lot of things were closed at Wonder Wheel park
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC07141.jpg

Astroland Park had all but one ride open

And ofcourse there is the cyclone
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[NYguy]

Great photo update! Now, imagine going there in January with a lot more activity...:yes: A year 'round Coney will be one of the City's best attractions...

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07262007/news/regionalnews/coney_i__ferry_regionalnews_rich_calder.htm

CONEY I. 'FERRY'
PIER PLAN HARKS BACK TO GLORY DAYS OF 1911

By RICH CALDER
July 26, 2007

Get set for a Coney Island flashback.

Before burning down in 1911, Coney Island's Dreamland Park featured a grand iron pier with spectacular amusements, restaurants, a dance hall and ferry access.

City officials will commission a study this fall on bringing ferry service back to the world-famous amusement district by building a new destination pier.

The site is the beachfront off West Eighth Street - near the New York Aquarium - where the old Dreamland pier once stood.

"I think a pier is an amazing idea," said Dick Zigun, a member of the city's Coney Island Development Corp. and founder of the Coney Island Circus Sideshow.

"Ferry service would not only help alleviate traffic congestion but would become a cool attraction for new visitors and make traveling here as unique as Coney Island itself."

The city's Economic Development Corp., which is overseeing the study, said its current plan is to study the feasibility of building a pier offering ferry service only.

But Zigun and many other local leaders say the city should think bigger and consider making any new pier include amusements, too - like the Santa Monica Pier in California and Chicago's Steel Pier.

"I'm glad they're going ahead with the study, but eventually I think they'll realize that creating an amusement pier makes more sense," said Gene Ritter, a Community Board 13 member.

It was Ritter, a commercial diver, who started the push for a new pier 17 years ago after uncovering sand pilings from Dreamland's pier and hundreds of artifacts from the park itself while searching the ocean floor off the Coney Island shoreline.

The study will be paid for with $3.2 million in federal transportation funding secured by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn).

Tom Fox, president of New York Water Taxi, said the success of Coney Island ferry service will depend on whether the city and developers can turn Coney into a year-round attraction.

He said Long Island, New Jersey, Staten Island, Queens, The Bronx and certain parts of Brooklyn's waterfront with poor mass transit - such as Williamsburg - could serve as good locations to provide service to and from Coney Island.

Joe Sitt, the developer planning a Vegas-style, $1.5 billion entertainment complex for the center of the amusement district, said he strongly supports bringing ferry service back to Coney Island.

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/08/26/2007-08-26_sands_of_time_catch_up_to_coney_island.html

Sands of time catch up to Coney Island

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/08/26/amd_coney_parachute.jpg

Parachute Jump, 1952

BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM
August 26th 2007


Thanks for the memories, Coney Island.

As city officials and private developers embark on what may be the biggest change to hit Coney Island since the Dreamland inferno of 1911, beach bums and amusement park buffs are flocking to the seaside resort to bid farewell.

When the season ends Sept. 9, the legendary Astroland amusement park will offer its final twirl on the Tilt-a-Whirl, its last dip on the Pirate Ship and a farewell plunge on the Water Flume.

Boardwalk favorites like Ruby's, Lola Staar and Cha-cha's also will be shuttered. Critics worry that redevelopment plans will take years or fall through entirely, leaving the strip looking more like a ghost town than an amusement oasis.

"Everyone is realizing what they love about Coney Island and coming down to embrace it before it changes and becomes something else," said Dianna Carlin, who owns the gift shop and clothing boutique Lola Staar. "It's sad, actually."

Megadeveloper Thor Equities and its president Joe Sitt envision hotels, entertainment venues and amusement parks in a new Coney Island that draws crowds year-round.

The success of that vision — as well as another plan to build mostly luxury housing by developer Taconic Investment Partners — hinges on a city zoning overhaul expected to be released in September.

The city has never been thrilled with Thor's Las Vegas-style vision. Earlier this month, a high-ranking city official told The News, "Thor's proposal is dead in the water."

Thor has scooped up property on the Boardwalk, Stillwell Ave. and elsewhere in Coney Island and claims it will bring in new businesses.

Critics of the $1.5 billion plan believe the Boardwalk storefronts could stay vacant for years if city officials and Thor can't agree on how best to redevelop the beachfront area.

"What's strange is Coney Island has always had this sense of anarchy and now here's somebody who's trying to sterilize and impose a vision of retail-tainment," said Coney Island historian Charles Denson. "Sitt's not an evil guy. But this is his vision and the worst thing to have in Coney Island is one person's singular vision."

As the city and Thor negotiate the future of Coney Island, many beachgoers are busy looking to the past.

Since 2004, Denson has been recording the memories of Coney Island fans young and old — and already he's collected the stories of nearly 300 people.

"I think people revisit places where they've had unusual experiences," said Denson of the interest in his Coney Island History Project. "There's a Coney Island saying, ‘If you get sand in your shoes you can never get it out.' These people, I think, have sand in their shoes."

Even with big changes in store for Coney Island, many business and civic leaders in the area insist the summer of 2007 won't be the neighborhood's last.

Deno's Wonder Wheel owner Dennis Vourderis said attendance at his park is up this season, but might not be next year if people wrongly believe Coney Island is grinding to a halt.

The New York Aquarium, minor-league baseball, the Cyclone, Nathan's Famous and Deno's all will be open next year, as will other Boardwalk attractions, Vourderis insisted.

"We aren't going anywhere," said Vourderis, echoing others who intend to stay put for the foreseeable future. "It may be a different vision, but it will always be Coney Island."

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/galleries/coney_island/coney_island.html


http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/08/26/gal_coney_11.jpg

1916: Nathan's of Coney Island.


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1932: Thousands crowd police lines as they watch fire at Coney Island.


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1932: Page one of the July 14, 1932 edition of the New York Daily News.


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1936: The boardwalk and beaches at Coney Island were thronged with a million people who sought to escape the city's muggy heat.


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1937: Mary Dolan, a beauty contest winner at Coney Island.


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1938: Daddy patiently smokes a cigarette as his daughter makes him a partner in her game.


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1946: Time stood still for this couple at Coney Island as a neighbor turns a completely indifferent back on the scene.


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1947: A couple looked down on part of the record crowd at Coney Island from the Ferris wheel.


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1947: The beach filled with people at Coney Island.


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1950: The freak show at Coney Island held the fascination of the crowds. Even folks who don't care to go inside often pause a moment to listen to the barker's spiel.


http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/08/26/gal_coney_12.jpg

1959: Children from P.S. 80 are among the first to see the 80-foot Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile at W. Eighth St. and Surf Ave., Coney Island.


http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/08/26/gal_coney_3.jpg

1960: Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Henry Cabot Lodge and New York Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz gulp hot dogs at a Coney Island hotdog stand.

[NYguy]

http://www.observer.com/2007/bloomberg-wants-joe-sitts-land

Bloomberg Wants Joe Sitt's Coney Island Land

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by Matthew Schuerman
November 8, 2007

Mayor Bloomberg is proposing to acquire the property that Joe Sitt has been buying up at Coney Island, throwing a wrench into one of the most aggressively marketed real estate ideas in recent history and putting the city into the unusual role of playing carnival barker.

In a speech today before the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Bloomberg said that he wanted to turn the central amusement area into city-owned parkland that would “preserve the world’s most famous urban amusement park in perpetuity,” according to his prepared remarks.

The Bloomberg administration and Mr. Sitt, the chairman of Thor Equities, have been battling over just what should go in the 15 acres stretching from the Cyclone to Keyspan Park, a minor league baseball stadium. Mr. Sitt has wanted to rezone it to permit a phantasmagoria of rides, entertainment, retail, restaurants, hotels—and, most infamously, condos.

“The city will work with existing landowners to acquire many of the properties in Coney East," the mayor said. "We hope to achieve a win-win outcome with each of them. That’s what we want for all the people of Coney Island, and Brooklyn.”

Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen. You are in for a ride.

[Jularc]

More from Curbed...


Coney Details: Amusements in Middle, Tall on Edges


Thursday, November 8, 2007, by Robert

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_11_Coney%20Photo%20One.jpg

After more than a year of speculation, the city weighed in with its own vision of Coney Island redevelopment today. It boils down to a new 15-acre city-owned amusement area that would be surrounded by land rezoned for high density developments. Mayor Bloomberg delivered the news himself, but put a positive spin on things, saying "We hope to achieve a win-win outcome for all." He said that the city will "work with existing land owners to acquire land." Developer Joe Sitt, who owns a significant amount of land the city wants to rezone as parkland and lease to a "world-class" developer of amusements, released a statement saying he was "disappointed" in the plan, but "optimistic" a deal can be cut.

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_11_ConeyRenderingOne.jpg

A spokesperson for Wonder Wheel Park, which still owns most of its land said, "leave the Wonder Wheel out of this." The other major landowner that owns a big empty parcel next to KeySpan Park has been involved with on-and-off litigation with the city for years.

A post-speech press conference was full of jabs at Mr. Sitt, who has feuded publicly with city officials. Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff said Mr. Sitt "doesn't have the expertise" to build an amusement park. He said he expects Mr. Sitt "to play a major part" in the redevelopment "but not in the amusement area." The Mayor refused to use the eminent domain word, saying "We think we will not need eminent domain. We think we will be able to structure deals."

The city also looks like it's rejecting the idea of having a number of small operators in the amusement area. The Mayor said the city is "seeking to have one overall expert in managing and running the whole thing" because "you can't have a bunch of little things and have them survive." As for Mr. Sitt, the city appears that it will make an offer that he can't refuse. "One assumes that Mr. Sitt is rational and trying to do what's best for his bottom line," the Mayor said.

Whereas Mr. Sitt has had bulldozers parked on his land since last winter, the new plan--after a long land use review process--is to have development start before the Mayor's term ends. The new amusement operator will probably get a subsidy in the "tens of millions" of dollars.


Copyright © 2007 Curbed (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/11/08/coney_details_amusements_in_middle_tall_on_edges.php#more)

[NYguy]

Some pics taken last month:

OCTOBER 21, 2007

1.
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2.
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[NYguy]

http://www.nysun.com/article/66158

Coney Island Rezoning Sought To Add Amusement

By SARAH PORTLOCK
November 9, 2007


The city will seek to rezone 47 acres at Coney Island with the idea of creating a modern, year-round amusement district surrounded by thousands of units of new housing, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday.

"When people around the nation hear the words 'Coney Island,' they think of fun in the sun, of beaches, boardwalks, and bumper cars on the Brooklyn shoreline," Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday morning in front of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

"But we all recognize that Coney Island just isn't what it could be," he added.

The mayor's plan, which he said could bring in $2.5 billion in private investment over the next decade, includes rezoning the area for 4,500 residential units, some slated to be "affordable" housing, and 460,000 square feet of retail space.

Mr. Bloomberg said the city would remap 15 acres to create new city parkland along Coney East, which would expand the amusement area and allow new rides, restaurants, and attractions, with the goal of bringing visitors to the area year-round. The management of the amusement park would be leased to an outside developer, Mr. Bloomberg said.

The city will begin the public review and approval process of the rezoning plan early next year.

Mr. Bloomberg's plan could stymie the ambitions of developer Joseph Sitt, who had planned to erect a hotel and retail stores on land now designated as an amusement district.

Mr. Sitt, the chairman of Thor Equities, said in a statement that he was disappointed by the mayor's announcement but would continue to work with the city and community to do what they agree would be best for the neighborhood.

"We're disappointed by the mayor's presentation, but are optimistic that a deal can be reached between the city, the landowners, and the community to make Coney Island an even greater place to live and visit," Mr. Sitt said.

Mr. Sitt spent $100 million to acquire 10 acres of Coney Island property, and aims to develop hotel, amusement, and retail spaces.

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11092007/news/regionalnews/mikes_coney_island_baby_700167.htm

MIKE'S CONEY ISLAND BABY
RIDING HIGH ON HIS PLANS FOR A MEGA FUN PARK

By RICH CALDER
November 9, 2007

Coney Island's fabled beachfront would become home to America's largest urban amusement park, about 4,500 new apartments and many major stores under a grand redevelopment plan unveiled yesterday by Mayor Bloomberg.

Hizzoner said his 47-acre rezoning plan "builds on Coney Island's fabulous location and historic legacy and preserves and invigorates its iconic landmarks," such as the Parachute Jump and Cyclone roller coaster, without totally compromising its famous freakishness.

City renderings show a glittering new 15-acre amusement park incorporating the landmark Cyclone and Wonder Wheel with new indoor and outdoor attractions - including a new looping roller coaster winding around the park and a ride rivaling the size and shape of the 262-foot-high Parachute Jump.

Property at the base of the Wonder Wheel would be set aside for an ice and roller rink.

The mayor's plan for a new, 21st century Coney Island is a death knell for developer Joe Sitt's controversial, $1.5 billion proposal to build a glitzy, Vegas-style entertainment complex in the heart of the amusement district.

Sitt wouldn't get the zoning changes needed for that project to break ground, but Bloomberg left the door open for Sitt to take part in the redevelopment.

Bloomberg's proposed rezoning sets aside 15 acres for an amusement park running from Stillwell Avenue east to the New York Aquarium on West Eighth Street - much of which is part of the existing Astroland Park site and other Sitt-owned land.

Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff said the city believes Sitt isn't qualified to create a park, and he expected the developer to make a substantial profit by either selling his land to the city or agreeing to a potential land swap.

The swap, first reported by The Post in August, calls for Sitt trading his 11 acres for city-owned land west of KeySpan Park. That would pave the way for Sitt to strike it rich by building high-rise housing.

Sitt - who bought a table's worth of tickets to yesterday's Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce event but gave them away - issued a statement saying his company is "disappointed by the mayor's presentation," but is "optimistic that a deal can be reached."

Bloomberg said he envisioned Coney Island having a "year-round water park and hotel with slides, rides and awesome year-round aquatic attractions, or an open-air performance area for live music and theater, flowing onto the boardwalk and Coney Island's magnificent beach."

The city also would need to acquire other privately owned parcels, including Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, before choosing a partner to develop the urban amusement park.

"I feel like I no longer live in a democracy; we might be victims of eminent domain" after hearing the mayor's remarks, said Dennis Vourderis, Deno's co-owner. But city officials said eminent domain isn't an option.

Bloomberg's long-anticipated plan calls for rezoning 19 blocks of prime real estate running along the boardwalk from West 24th Street east to the Aquarium on West 8th Street, and roughly north to Mermaid Avenue - with the exception of KeySpan Park.

Land near Surf Avenue directly above the proposed amusement park - some of which is also owned by Sitt - is expected someday to house hotels totaling 500 to 600 units, indoor and outdoor performance venues, retail space, restaurants and a movie theater.

About 20 percent - or 900 - of the 4,500 units of new housing expected to be built would be set aside for low- and middle-income families. The entire plan must go through the city's land-use review process.

City officials said that they hope to break ground in 2009 and that the overall project would take at least 10 years to complete.

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/nyregion/09coney.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

City Offers Coney Island Plan That Conflicts With a Developer’s

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/11/09/nyregion/09coney-600.jpg


By CHARLES V. BAGLI
November 9, 2007

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg unveiled his administration’s long-awaited proposal for revitalizing Coney Island yesterday with a zoning plan that he said would create the nation’s largest urban amusement park, promote the development of stores and 4,500 apartments along Surf Avenue and preserve historic attractions like the Parachute Jump.

The proposed rezoning, which covers 19 blocks and 47 acres from the New York Aquarium west along the oceanfront to Highland View Park, would transform an area pockmarked with empty lots and seedy buildings that still manages to attract millions of visitors every summer to the beaches, a ballpark and assorted attractions from roller coasters to sword swallowers.

“It really could be spectacular,” Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday after a speech outlining the plan to the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. “But it’s fallen on hard times.”

The city’s plan could create a standoff with Joseph J. Sitt, a shopping center developer who said he had spent more than $120 million buying 10 acres in the heart of Coney Island’s frayed amusement district.

Mr. Sitt, chief executive of Thor Equities, has promoted his own $1.5 billion plan for a new amusement district, which bears some similarities to the city’s vision. But it diverges from the city’s plan by including hotels, time-shares and an enormous indoor water park. City officials contend that housing in the proposed 15-acre amusement district would lead to an inevitable clash over noise, late hours and swirling lights.

Mr. Sitt, who has until recently been very vocal about his differences with the city, released a statement yesterday expressing disappointment with the mayor’s presentation. The statement said he was still optimistic that a deal could be reached among landowners, the city and the community.

Mr. Sitt, who has insisted that hotels and time-share units are required to make the project economically viable, vowed to continue working with the Bloomberg administration and other elected officials “to do what’s best for the people of Coney.”

But his conciliatory tone belies the rising tension between him and City Hall. Deputy Mayor Daniel L. Doctoroff has sought since June to get Mr. Sitt to agree to a land swap, in which he would trade his property for a city-owned parcel on the north side of the nearby baseball stadium, KeySpan Park. Mr. Sitt has refused, saying the properties are not comparable in value.

Mr. Doctoroff said yesterday that the city wanted to find an experienced, world-class amusement park operator to run the district, which is “a very different business than building a shopping center.”

“He doesn’t have the experience to do it,” Mr. Doctoroff said, adding that the city expected Mr. Sitt to play a role in building housing or retail just outside the amusement park.

But some officials and community groups fear that Mr. Sitt could initiate a lawsuit, or let his land sit idle until Mayor Bloomberg leaves office and, presumably, a more amenable replacement succeeds him.

City Councilman Domenic M. Recchia Jr. said he had been working with city officials and the City Council to resolve the dispute; he has been supportive of Mr. Sitt.

The city’s proposed zoning plan, which was devised in consultation with the Coney Island Development Corporation and community leaders, would ultimately establish a nearly 50-acre park, from the site of the Steeplechase ride to Asser Levy Park.

The plan divides the 19 blocks into three distinct areas. The first, on the north side of Surf Avenue, from Stillwell Avenue to West 20th Street, would be zoned for up to 1,800 apartments and retail space. A second residential district would be created between West 19th and West 24th Streets, from the south side of Surf Avenue to the Boardwalk. Building heights would step down to the water.

“Coney East,” the third district, would range from the east side of the ballpark to the Cyclone roller coaster and include a 15-acre amusement district. New streets would help improve the flow of traffic and pedestrians from Surf Avenue and the subway to the Boardwalk. The zoning there would allow for a hotel, a water park, enclosed amusements, catering halls, movie theaters, restaurants and bowling alleys along Surf Avenue, in an effort to make the area a year-round destination.

Amanda Burden, the city’s planning director, said the amusement park would be “open, accessible and affordable,” in keeping with Coney Island’s populist history as the country’s first resort.

Charles Reichenthal, the longtime district manager of Community Board 13 in Coney Island, said the city’s plan was “on the right track,” with a few things that have to be straightened out, including the fate of landowners like the Vourderis family, which runs Deno’s Amusement Park and the Wonder Wheel, and Mr. Sitt of Thor Equities.

“If Thor Equities has done everything, it’s put Coney Island back on the map,” he said. “We now get calls from people interested in doing all kinds of things out here. This plan’s certainly on the right track, with some snags that have to be figured out.”

[NYguy]

http://curbed.com/archives/2007/11/08/coney_details_amusements_in_middle_tall_on_edges.php#more


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[NYguy]

Not really all that different from Sitt's proposal...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/nyregion/18coney.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Coney Island Plan Is Scaled Back, but Critics Are Skeptical

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/06/18/nyregion/18coney-600.jpg

An artist’s rendering of an aerial view of Surf Avenue at Coney Island under a new plan for a renovated amusement complex there.


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/06/18/nyregion/coney650.jpg

The developer Joseph J. Sitt’s $1.5 billion plan for Coney Island includes a pulsating amusement area and three hotels, with architecture that invokes the old Luna Park and Dreamland.

[NYguy]

This may one day be as much Bloomberg's legacy as the west side...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/11/09/2007-11-09_city_officals_lay_out_grand_47acre_coney-2.html

City officals lay out grand 47-acre Coney Island plan

By JOTHAM SEDERSTROM
November 9th 2007, 4:00 AM


The Coney Island of the future will be a kaleidoscope of thrill rides, soaring apartment towers and plenty of places to shop, Mayor Bloomberg said Thursday.

"We all recognize that Coney Island just isn't what it could be," Bloomberg said at a Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday at Gargiulo's restaurant.

"Its amusements haven't kept pace with changing times and tastes, and for much of the year, activity in the area lags badly."

In the most comprehensive look at the Brooklyn beachfront area since 1964, city officials laid out plans for a 15-acre, year-round amusement park, 4,500 new apartments and condos, and blocks of glitzy stores along Surf Ave.

The 47-acre plan also would include a grassy 65,000-square-foot park near W. 23rd St., a refurbished Parachute Jump, the return of the B&B Carousell, water parks, Boardwalk shops and new benches and lighting.


http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/11/09/graf_coney-map.gif


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[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02082008/news/regionalnews/city_to_do_the_light_thing_for_coney_lan_236590.htm

CITY TO DO THE LIGHT THING FOR CONEY LANDMARK

By RICH CALDER
February 8, 2008

Coney's Island's iconic Parachute Jump is getting a new lease on light.

Less than dazzled by a lighting system installed on the 262-foot boardwalk landmark two years ago, the city yesterday began soliciting proposals from companies interested in creating a brighter, more dramatic illumination of Brooklyn's version of the Eiffel Tower.

The project is being pushed by Borough President Marty Markowitz, who says the old lighting system needs some "blinging up" and hopes to revive the classic thrill ride.

"Hey, if the Giants can beat the Patriots, there's no reason we can't ride the Parachute Jump in this new century," he said.

Markowitz, according to sources, considered the system installed in 2006 by renowned lighting artist Leni Schwendinger too "artsy," failing to capture Coney Island's flash.

The new $1.5 million project also includes refurbishing the bottom panel of the Parachute Jump, which was moved to Coney Island shortly after the 1939 World's Fair in Queens.

The ride ceased operations in 1968. It was declared a city landmark in 1989 and is part of a revamped Steeplechase Plaza that the city is hoping to create.

Charles Denson, a Coney Island historian, called the lighting project "symbolic to Coney Island's survival."

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02082008/news/regionalnews/city_to_do_the_light_thing_for_coney_lan_236590.htm

CITY TO DO THE LIGHT THING FOR CONEY LANDMARK

By RICH CALDER
February 8, 2008

Coney's Island's iconic Parachute Jump is getting a new lease on light.

Less than dazzled by a lighting system installed on the 262-foot boardwalk landmark two years ago, the city yesterday began soliciting proposals from companies interested in creating a brighter, more dramatic illumination of Brooklyn's version of the Eiffel Tower.

The project is being pushed by Borough President Marty Markowitz, who says the old lighting system needs some "blinging up" and hopes to revive the classic thrill ride.

"Hey, if the Giants can beat the Patriots, there's no reason we can't ride the Parachute Jump in this new century," he said.

Markowitz, according to sources, considered the system installed in 2006 by renowned lighting artist Leni Schwendinger too "artsy," failing to capture Coney Island's flash.

The new $1.5 million project also includes refurbishing the bottom panel of the Parachute Jump, which was moved to Coney Island shortly after the 1939 World's Fair in Queens.

The ride ceased operations in 1968. It was declared a city landmark in 1989 and is part of a revamped Steeplechase Plaza that the city is hoping to create.

Charles Denson, a Coney Island historian, called the lighting project "symbolic to Coney Island's survival."


Not the only Coney news of the day...

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02082008/news/regionalnews/marty_makes_waves_over_ny_aquarium_64396.htm

MARTY MAKES WAVES OVER NY AQUARIUM

By RICH CALDER
February 8, 2008

Charging that the New York Aquarium doesn't live up to its potential because it's saddled with a "guppy" budget, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz yesterday called on the city to seize control of the Coney Island site, which has been long run by a nonprofit.

"It always pains me to think that more New Yorkers go to Mystic, Conn., than to our own aquarium in Brooklyn," he said during his annual State of the Borough Address at the Cruise Ship Terminal in Red Hook.

Markowitz added that the city needs to rethink a 1902 deal that put the aquarium under the control of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which also runs the Bronx Zoo.

He said he'd ask Mayor Bloomberg to work with his office on creating an independent Brooklyn-based board of directors to oversee the aquarium.

"Because [the society's] expertise is in the zoo area, the aquarium remains a perennial afterthought in terms of funding upkeep and program- ming," Markowitz said.

"[The aquarium] needs a whale-size investment - not a budget the size of a guppy."

The aquarium has an annual budget of $14.3 million. Its buildings and land are city owned - but its fish and other animals belong to the society.

"We have a written agreement with the city and have no expectations that either side would part ways," a society spokesperson said last night.

[photoLith]

Wow I do NOT like that proposal, talk about a tourist trap that would scare away the natives. Its way too six flagsish for me. Just my opinion, never been to Coney Island, for all I know, it may need this development to give it a boost.

[NYguy]

Wow I do NOT like that proposal, talk about a tourist trap that would scare away the natives. Its way too six flagsish for me. Just my opinion, never been to Coney Island, for all I know, it may need this development to give it a boost.

I guess if attracting people from all walks of life to the oceanfront is your idea of a tourist trap, then yeah, Coney Island is the original tourist trap. Coney Island was "Six Flags" and "Disney" before those parks where even thought of.

[NYC2ATX]

Less than dazzled by a lighting system installed on the 262-foot boardwalk landmark two years ago, the city yesterday began soliciting proposals from companies interested in creating a brighter, more dramatic illumination of Brooklyn's version of the Eiffel Tower.


Brooklyn's Eiffel Tower.....*siiiiiggghhhh* :D That analogy makes me happy. :)

Can't wait to see how they're gonna light the jump to continue to draw those comparisons. :cheers:

[NYguy]

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/03/10/historic_coney_childs_building_going_roller_skating.php?o=0

Historic Coney Child's Building Going Roller Skating

http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3259/2324584526_3913a333fc_o.jpg

The Childs Building during last year's Mermaid Ball, the first time it had been open to the public since the 1950s.


Monday, March 10, 2008, by Robert

The historic Child's Building in Coney Island will be the site of a roller rink this summer. The 1923 era building, which housed a Childs Restaurant, has only been open to the public a handful of times since it closed in 1950. Taconic Investment, which is a big player in Coney Island development but has kept a much lower profile than the other big Coney developer, holds a long-term lease on the property and eventually plans to turn it into a restaurant and entertainment venue and surround it with highrises.

For now, however, it will be hosting a temporary roller rink operated by boardwalk entrepreneur Lola Staar who got money for the enterprise by Tommy Hilfiger and Glamour magazine after she won a competition that asked entrants to write about their "dream come true." They'll be shooting a reality show about transformation from 1920s terra cotta to 2000s hot pink showcase. They may also be hosting burlesque shows.


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[NYguy]

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/03/24/coneys_childs_building_rocks_out_with_new_roller_rink.php?o=0

Coney's Childs Building Rocks Out with New Roller Rink

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Monday, March 24, 2008, by Robert


There is good news and bad news in Coney Island. We'll dispense with the bad news first: the flashy redo of the New York Aquarium is officially dead because money is needed for a shark exhibit and because it would "engulf" the facility. The good news: the historic Child's Building hosted its second public event in a half-century this weekend with the opening of the Lola Staar Dreamland Roller Rink. Taconic Investment, which has gotten little of the controversy of its other big would-be developer, is allowing the use of the landmarked building. Money for the enterprise came from Dreaming Tommy Hilfiger and Glamour Magazine after boardwalk entrepreneur Dianna Carlin won a competition.

http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/2047/2357532067_981aabf9d7_o.jpg


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http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/2368/2358365106_bd9030b55a_o.jpg
Dianna Carlin, aka Lola Staar, who created the new rink.

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03282008/news/regionalnews/deperate_city_reconsiders_coney_builder_103857.htm

DE$PERATE CITY RECONSIDERS CONEY BUILDER

By RICH CALDER
March 28, 2008

With time running out on Mayor Bloomberg's dream of rebuilding Coney Island, the city is now looking to bring a controversial developer back into the plan to put up America's largest amusement park, sources told The Post.

Only six months ago, when the term-limited mayor announced his 47-acre rezoning plan for Coney Island, city officials said developer Joe Sitt and other boardwalk property owners weren't qualified to build the 15-acre park Hizzoner envisions.

But with the economy souring and deals to buy the 15 acres - including the 11 that Sitt controls - far from being reached, city officials are suddenly open to him playing some role in the park, even though the goal remains finding a world-class operator to run it, sources said.

Even if Sitt is involved, the city won't let him build high-rise housing or time-share hotels in the amusement district, Lynn Kelly, president of the Coney Island Development Corp., vowed yesterday.

[NYguy]

curbed.com

Uncontroversial Coney Steeplechase Plaza Project Stirs Up Muck

http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_04_Steeplechase%20Plaza.jpg

April 11, 2008


How much is too much for a plaza around an iconic waterfront Parachute Jump? Some people are complaining that the $4 million the city is spending on planning and designing Coney Island's Steeplechase Plaza is way too much and today's Daily News estimates that it's $42 per square foot design cost "triple the cost for the average city project."

A team of eight firms that includes EDAW and the Rockwell Group is working on the plan for the 2.2 acre site of Steeplechase Plaza. One architect compares the design fee to "pigs at the city's trough" but the Coney Island Development Corp. says it's an investment in a key anchor for the boardwalk and new attraction. The team includes landscape artists, preservation experts, water specialists, entertainment-based developers and a lighting designer to overhaul the 2006 Parachute Jump lighting scheme.

The new plaza, which has been relatively controversy-free for Coney Island will include a pavilion, restaurants, "water display," public space and other features the designers will propose.

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/nyregion/17coney.html?ref=nyregion

City’s Coney Island Design Revised to Break Deadlock

By CHARLES V. BAGLI
April 17, 2008

The Bloomberg administration has revised its redevelopment plan for the Coney Island waterfront in an effort to break a deadlock with some landowners and elected officials while still preserving the area’s historic amusement district, which includes the Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone roller coaster.

The proposal, which would turn the area into a year-round attraction, still calls for a lot of stores and as many as 5,000 apartments along Surf Avenue, but it would reduce to 9 acres from 15 a city-owned open-air amusement park north of the Boardwalk between KeySpan Park and the New York Aquarium.

The city would buy the land for a permanent amusement district from local property owners including Thor Equities and the Vourderis family, which owns Deno’s Amusement Park and the Wonder Wheel.

But in a departure from the original plan unveiled in November by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, those owners would be able to develop the remaining parts of their property themselves as long as they followed the city’s master plan, which must still undergo an environmental review and a land-use review.

The city’s plan for the area north of the amusement district calls for a series of buildings that could include a glass-enclosed water park, games and amusements, a bowling alley, restaurants and entertainment-oriented businesses like House of Blues, Dave & Busters, NikeTown and movie theaters. Finally, the new zoning would allow for hotel towers on the south side of Surf Avenue.

“This is a plan that will preserve the iconic nature of Coney Island and enhance the amusement district, while generating economic opportunities and jobs for local residents,” Deputy Mayor Robert C. Lieber said. “We’re trying to bling it up.”

The revised plan is the result of meetings with local property owners and others since November.

“I’m guardedly optimistic,” said Jesse Masyr, a real estate lawyer for Thor Equities, which has been at loggerheads with the Bloomberg administration. “We have to look at the size of sites we have left and what we could build.”

As the largest landowner in the area, Thor was in a position to block the city’s redevelopment plan, and appeared willing to wait out the Bloomberg administration. Thor’s chairman, Joseph J. Sitt, has spent more than $120 million in recent years buying about 10 acres in the heart of Coney Island’s traditional amusement district and developing his own $1.5 billion proposal for the area.

Mr. Sitt proposed a glitzy amusement park, as well as stores, game rooms and condominium hotels. But the city and some urban planners opposed generic retailing and any housing near the Boardwalk, saying that it would inevitably crush a noisy, late-night amusement district.

In recent months, the two sides have been discussing a mutually acceptable compromise. Mr. Sitt’s recent counterproposal called for a smaller, 6.5-acre amusement area and far more stores and hotels — 2.9 million square feet — spread over 24 acres. The city’s revised plan allows for 1.9 million square feet.

Councilman Domenic M. Recchia Jr., a critic of the original plan who has supported Thor, said the city was headed in the right direction, as did Dennis Vourderis, of the family that owns the Wonder Wheel.

“We’re optimistic,” Mr. Vourderis said. “We’re hoping that they’re going to let us develop our own properties.”

The glory days of Coney Island’s amusement parks are long gone, and the area is speckled with empty lots and dingy buildings. But the old-fashioned rides, sword swallowers, go-carts, wide-open beaches and cool breezes still attract hundreds of thousands of visitors in the summer months.

The “stars may finally be realigning,” said Brooklyn’s borough president, Marty Markowitz, a longtime advocate of revitalizing Coney Island.

“Coney Island was always a working-class playground,” he said. “We should preserve the amusements for future generations. I welcome a water park, movie theaters, a bowling alley and House of Blues. I do not want to see another generic shopping mall.”

The key issue for all sides is how to attract visitors to Coney Island in the winter, when the area is cold and windswept. Mr. Sitt had insisted on traditional retail space and housing to offset the cost of the amusements. But the redevelopment plan goes beyond the amusement district. There are plans for housing and retail businesses on the north side of Surf Avenue and west of the KeySpan ballpark.

In recent months, the Bloomberg administration has sought to redesign and refurbish the historic 271-foot-tall Coney Island Parachute Jump, which sits on 2.2 acres west of the amusement district. The centerpiece of the new plaza would be the restored Bishoff & Brienstein carousel, and could include a glass pavilion, an observation deck and restaurants.

Mr. Sitt is bringing the Reithoffer Shows traveling carnival to Coney Island from May 22 through June 1. The Astroland amusements, which Mr. Sitt bought and planned to close, will also reopen for one more season.

Both sides need a victory. Many of the city and state’s development plans have been battered by a slowing economy and the credit crisis, which has effectively ended lending for large-scale real estate projects.

So if Mr. Sitt fails to compromise on Coney Island, he risks alienating City Hall and jeopardizing two other projects he would like to build on the Brooklyn waterfront. He has proposed a $100 million shopping center at a former bus depot along Shore Parkway in Bensonhurst, where he lives. In Red Hook, Mr. Sitt bought the long dormant Revere sugar works, and would like to build a marina and luxury apartments there, next to the soon-to-open Ikea furniture store.