Ferris Wheel to Downtown Manhattan?

The Post reports that the Tussauds Group, the people behind the freaky yet fascinating wax museum, are talking to the city about bringing a huge Ferris Wheel to the South Street Seaport. Similar to the London Eye (pictured), which has been a huge hit, with $70 million in annual ticket sales, the proposed NYC ferris wheel would offer dazzling views, with the top of the wheel 450 feet above ground. The Economic Development Council has asked the Tussauds Group to apply, as the EDC tries to find a number of possibilities to "anchor" waterfront development. Remember, the Guggenheim had planned to build a $900 million, Frank-Gehry-designed, lower Manhattan museum on the East River, but those plans went bust a year and a half ago. Gothamist likes the idea of a "New York Eye," since the London Eye is pretty cool, but we're not sure if it would work as well at the South Street Seaport. When thinking about how the London Eye is situated, crudely speaking, the ferris wheel should be placed on the east side of the East River. We'll interested for more details, should the Tussauds Group decide to move forward.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on May 24, 2004 9:01 AM

Comments [rss]

seo tools

Well,you can find something useful here.

AlexisT

I heard the buzz about the London Eye and was excited to finally ride it in January. After waiting for hours on line I was disappointed. Its just another rendition of a ferris wheel and your packed into a pod with 1,234 other families. I was bored after 10 minutes too. It wouldve been better if I was in Posh and Becks pod party

mrnyc

ah yes, the london eye. siiiigh. we got some historical 'splainin to do here. are you ready kids?

the london eye ferris wheel was originally designed in the early 1980's as a tourist attraction for the hard partying "flats" downtown riverside neighborhood in cleveland. it was news for a few years but when backing could not be gotten locally sir john brown and his british petroleum crew took the idea off to london and well there you go. it got built. as you red blooded patriots may or may not know, british petroleum (or bp) had bought out rockefeller's all-american standard oil a few years earlier, thus sending old man rockefeller into a perpetual spin in his grave.

so there you have it. the backstory to the london eye. carry on.

sheila

Oh yeah...real sociable....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/944881.stm

hamish

Rob - not at all, i think it's a charming way to make money. As for the Eye, I think it's a delight for London. As an Brit, it's refreshing to find a tourist attraction in the capital that every local, Londoner, or Brit wants to go on - rather than it just being "something for tourists" - surely not many New Yorkers go up the Empire State after the first or second time, yet it's still a wonderful breathtaking thing to do, whereas the size of the pods in the Eye make it an all-round more sociable thing to do. People have parties in the Eye, or do press launches, it's much more flexible and dramatic as a functional space. I'm all for it.

Rob

Hamish - I'm not sure what you're trying to say?

Are you implying that buying skimpy underwear from a machinr on the street is in some way bad?

Surely not?

larry dvm

Why not put it on the south end of Roosevelt Island?

Kojak

The Eye was never ment to be a permanent fixture to the London Skyline. Every winter they have to shut it down for a month or so to do repairs. That has to cost them $$$. We can do better.

hamish

Well, as you'll see, the British fleece their tourists from money in other ways - http://gothamish.verbosecoma.com/archives/000175.html#000175 - I think a NY Eye would be stunning - bring it on, it's like the unaffordable helicopter ride for the rest of us.

Jen

Yikes! Thanks, Rob. Given that our governor is planning multibillion projects (tunnels, stadiums), I guess tens of millions of dollars of debt seem like kids play.