The city has a new plan for Coney Island that attempts to forge a detente with local landowners over competing visions for the area, according to an article in today’s Times. In November the Bloomberg administration revealed that it wanted to control 15 acres of land north of the Boardwalk between KeySpan Park and the New York Aquarium for a year-round amusement district, which would require buying land from property owners like Thor Equities. Thor, the largest property owner in the area, wanted to build a smaller amusement district as well as condo-hotels and a lot of retail. The Bloomberg administration has been in talks with Thor and other landowners since late fall, and it’s now proposing a 9-acre, city-owned amusement park and 1.9 million square feet of space where retail, restaurants, and hotels could be built. Thor has most recently pushed for the non-amusement park area to total 2.9 million square feet, but a lawyer for the firm says he’s “guardedly optimistic” about the city’s new plan. 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, says Deputy Mayor Robert C. Lieber. We’re trying to bling it up.
City’s Coney Island Design Revised to Break Deadlock [NY Times]
Images from The New York Times.