Thor Backs Away from Coney Condo Plan
After months of criticism from city officials and community members, Joseph Sitt of Thor Equities submitted a plan that replaces the controversial 40-story condominium tower and hundreds of other rental apartments along the Coney Island boardwalk with a lower-scale mix of hotels and timeshares. Does it represent enough of a change to satisfy critics or…
After months of criticism from city officials and community members, Joseph Sitt of Thor Equities submitted a plan that replaces the controversial 40-story condominium tower and hundreds of other rental apartments along the Coney Island boardwalk with a lower-scale mix of hotels and timeshares. Does it represent enough of a change to satisfy critics or is the plan just wolf dressed up as a sheep, as Robert Lieber, president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, called it? It’s an important question for Thor, which needs the city on board to complete a rezoning and to cough up financing on the order of $100 million. The key to any plan for the area is finding a way to make Coney Island a year-round destination. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see how to accomplish that while maintaining the old-school vibe for which so many New Yorkers feel nostalgia. If you’re already going to turn it into Disney World, what’s the big deal is about having some condos in the mix?
Coney Island Plan Is Scaled Back [NY Times]
Condos Nixed from Coney Revamp Plan [NY Post]
Coney Developer Drops Condo Plan [NY Sun]
Wrong.
Current projects are 18 to 24 stories per Wiki.
These, at least, are 14 stories tall: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=c1yislandhouses-newyorkcity
Also, see: http://gowanuslounge.blogspot.com/2007/03/heres-how-40-story-building-in-coney.html
Give me a source that says existing housing is 40 stories, not an exclamation point and a WTF.
Mateo! The housing projects are 40 story high! WTF?!?!?!?
These statements by Sitt are particularly offensive. nothing like developing a minority neighborhood and putting all them blacks to work, serving the affluent and wealthy:
“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?â€
Again, it’s not the development that the city has a problem with. It’s buildings that are out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood.
I can understand the arguments against redeveloping the atlantic yards but fighting against redevelopment of Coney Island shows signs of wanting no change even if it is for the better.
I posted earlier but wanted to add that growing up, I would hear stories of how, for my parents and grandparents, CI was the PLACE to be…pristine, fun, a great family place. I, along with a whole generation, never got to experience that b/c by the time we came along, CI was (and still is) a place you steer clear of. It would be nice if, by the time I have kids, CI would be a desitination place again so another generation doesn’t miss out on this area which is so much a part of Brooklyn! So what if my kids ride the merry-go-round next to some mega-condos…I’m sure all they’ll remember is the fun they had at CI!
Does anyone really believe that Sitt intends to honor this scaled back plan? It strikes me as a last ditch effort to salvage something in the face of city opposition. Clearly, his Albee-flip is fresh in peoples minds, hence the reluctance to give away the farm. Given that the current Coney Island amusement area is about a third the size of the one of my youth, there’s not much to give away anyway. And if some schmuck wants to lay down some long cash to live in the middle of an amusement park, I say let ’em. BTW, I find the comparisons between Coney and Disney somewhat spurious. Coney’s a hodge-podge of hucksters trying to separate you from your money; Disney is a corporate monolith trying to separate you from your free-will.
June 18, 2006
nytimes.com
In Coney Island, Marbury Has Message but No News
“My message to the kids of Coney Island is: ‘Don’t want to live here. Don’t want to be in Coney Island all your life,’ ” Marbury said. “And if somebody tells you different, don’t deal with them people, because they want you to stay here. So what I’m doing is trying to give kids hope, and allow them to understand that with hard work and dedication, preparation, all of those different things, they’ll be able to succeed.”
Marbury spoke of creating jobs and other avenues out of poverty. He said he would pay barbers in his former neighborhood to give residents free haircuts.
TIMESHARES!?