Many Coney Islanders fear Thor Equities founder Joseph Sitt plans to flip his land within the amusement district if he gets favorable rezoning, like he did with the Albee Square Mall in Downtown Brooklyn. Sitt paid $25 million for the mall in 2001, floating plans to build a roughly 1 million-square-foot tower, but instead sold it last year to Acadia Realty Trust for $125 million after making relatively minor improvements. Chris Havens, who has long worked in the Downtown Brooklyn market, said Sitt actually tried to find investors and an anchor tenant for the tower but came up dry. “He really, really wanted to build that tower,” said Havens. “He was looking for partners, having meetings … I even attended one with him.” Ironically, around the same time Albee’s previous owner, Bruce Ratner, scored a 194,000-square-foot lease with Target for his up-and-coming Atlantic Terminal, a dream lease for anyone looking to finance a large project. Target is now rumored to have inked a deal at Acadia’s Albee Square tower, called City Point.

Thor spokesman Stefan Friedman was asked if the developer has any investors or anchor tenants secured for his $2 billion Coney Island project, the most recent iteration including high-rise hotels, entertainment retail, and an indoor/ outdoor waterpark and amusement park. Often large projects like these will involve several investors, anchor tenants, and hotel or amusement brands, for example, before financing is approved. Friedman responded, “We have interest from every major movie theatre operator and we are confident that Coney Island can once again be a year round entertainment destination.” Sitt, a Brooklyn native adept at redeveloping large, deteriorated retail centers, has never built a tower. But he’s changed his business plan before, having gotten his start creating Ashley Stewart, a clothing line for plus-size career women. Do you think he’ll pull it off?
In Brooklyn, Projects, Plans and Hopes (Jan. 27, 2002) [NY Times]
Coney Island’s Billion-Dollar Glam-Rock Makeover (Sept. 8, 2005) [NY Magazine]
Cyclone Swirls Around Coney Island Builder [NY Post]