[streetscaper]

It looks like Staten Island’s mega Ferris wheel isn’t dead after all

Now it looks like the team is taking another crack at the proposal, as Advance/SILive.com has reported that the group of investors behind the New York Wheel are looking to raise something smaller at the same site. Staten Island Borough President James Oddo reportedly confirmed to Advance/SILive.com that the investors are now looking to build a New York Wheel about the size of the London Eye, which is only 443-feet-tall (a sizeable downgrade but still significant for Staten Island).

“A group of Wheel investors is trying to make a bona fide effort to build their own version of the Wheel,” Oddo told Advance/SILive.com. “It would be a wheel closer in size and scope to the London Eye. They have been working to find a contractor and a funding scheme to make this work.”

With much of the infrastructure already partially in place—including a half-built parking garage, four wheel pedestals, and the carcass of a new terminal entrance—it seems like the new New York Wheel would have an advantageous start. Indeed, Oddo is reportedly directing investors to contact the New York City Economic Development Corporation, who oversees the site, and is bullish on the tourism prospects such a wheel could bring.

https://www.archpaper.com/2020/07/is-the-new-york-wheel-back-on/