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Some familiar booths and vendors along the Boardwalk in Coney Island will have to leave by the end of the summer to make way for new development. The Daily News reports that developer Thor Equities has been negotiating to buy up more land in the area, including where the Nathan's stand is.
"We are looking for a new home," said the manager of the gyro stand, who goes by the name Joey Clams. "Are they going to take us out and replace us with an Applebee's or Olive Garden? Knishes, hot dogs, shish kebab - that's what makes Coney Island."Other establishments that will have to go are a go-kart stand, a souvenir shop, and a "Dunk the Creep" game. Kings County GOP Chairman Hy Singer owns much of the properties, and tenants believe he's been selling the land to Thor. Gothamist knows that Coney Island is trying to improve itself to be more attractive to visitors, but we do love how it is a little ramshackle and worn out, too. Here's hoping to a good balance.
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Heh, a redeveloped Coney Island. Yeah, it's kinda dumpy, but that was part of the appeal. Ah well.
But I guess this means the Waaaarrioooorrrs will have to go elsewhere to play-ay.
an applebees on the boardwalk at Coney Island?
the end is near. F Marty Mark and his flunky bunch. F Bloomie. This city is becoming NJ.
An Applebees on the boardwalk would be pretty heinous. Although they really do need to do something to redevelop that area. I grew up here and know all the legend and romance that is Coney Island. I didn't make it there for the first time until I was 25. Man was I disappointed. It was just creepy. Then a midget in white face dressed in one of those old fashioned black and white striped prison uniforms went walking by and I was officially freaked out. The Cyclone was a lot of fun, but I think I'll stick with glances of the parachute jump from the Verrazanno Narrows Bridge for the forseeable future.
there were plans several years ago to tear down all the junk shops across the street from the amusement parks, to make room for a huge hotel that was going to build there. that never seemed to materialize; hopefully this will fizzle out in the same way.
There's constant talk of redeveloping all the waterfront areas in Brooklyn. This is because NYC area waterfront property = potential big buck$. You can't stop development of these areas, the best we can do is promote mixed use and sensible urban planning.
you went to coney island and were "disappointed" by the creepiness? i'd be disappointed if it wasn't...
"there were plans several years ago to tear down all the junk shops across the street from the amusement parks, to make room for a huge hotel that was going to build there. that never seemed to materialize; hopefully this will fizzle out in the same way."
km, I went to Coney this past weekend and all of the junk shops/antique dealers are gone and the buildings that housed them are flattened to the ground. These are the ones on the strip on the north side of Surf Avenue running from about where the West 8th Street Station is to the furniture shops.
Also a bit further down, the cargo container dealers--junk and other questionable stuff--are completely gone. Made semi-famous/infamous in "Requiem For A Dream" and now it's a multi-story office building or something like that.
Also, the sentence in the Gothamist post that reads "including where the Nathan's stand is." is a bit misleading. This is not a land grab for the original Nathan's building, but refers to the crappy/shoddy Nathan's stand on the boardwalk.
The strip in question in the Daily News piece runs from West 12th Street to about Stillwell Avenue on the Boardwalk.
I grew up in the neighborhood and while there is a wistful side to seeing old places like Ruby's disappear, at the same time the place has been in shambles for years. If you're the kind who gets off on urban decay, then I guess you'd be quite upset. But something really needs to be done to revilatlize the area. I'm not for Applebee's or a strip mall in any way, but the charming decay is only charming for so long. I only hope that the odd combination of Coney being so out of the way saves the small shops and small amusement areas from being completely run over.
Well at least if they put in an Applebees it won't be any harder to get food poisoning at Coney Island than it is now.
(For the record the article doesn't say there actually are plans to put in an Applebees...)
Sean, the article does not point to Applebees in any way, but Thor Equities (http://www.thorequities.com/) seems to lean that way to some extent.
Looking though their site it's clear they are partially responsible for the mallification of Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. So I think it's a fair bet to guess some XYZ chain store of some kind will open.
I highly doubt that when all is said and done there will be an air-conditioned/well-lit "Shoot The Freak" kiosk next to a Cinnabon.
Interesting to note that some of the chain stores on Montague st. have closed down recently (gap, and the bookstore - a waldenbooks, I think).
I guess that fits in well with the new G-rated mermaid parade. Not only will it soon be more like NJ, it will be more like something from a bland flyover state. It's really too bad that every last thing has to be made family-friendly and corporate.
Coney, that's exactly the point. Montague Street isa 24/7 area in many ways and even there the chains can't survive.
Thor Equities also owns "The Gallery at Fulton Street" (formerly known as the Albee Square Mall). That mall is really dead compared to the shops and stores around it. And it's in the center of a shopping strip.
Whatever these folks build in Coney, I have the funny feeling it will open with tons of fanfare. And then as the seasonal aspect of Coney takes it's toll on the businesses, slowly those businesses will close. Only to be replaced with a new wave of schlocky stores/bars and such. And then Coney is back to where it began, but only with new construction.
Coney is not like every other part of this city--like Times Square--since you do have to go out of your way to get there. So development has always been an issue. Can't imagine Thor Equities track record can change anything that much.
G rated Mermaid Parade? Not quite. Take a better look.
Vanilla, vanilla: I have this great ol' bridge sitting over the East River to sell you if you think this guy Joey Sitt won't denude the history & character of one the city's most legendary nabes & squeeze out from his vile cookie-cutter mall-hell template a boring, unenlightened, anti-preservationist piece a crap that we'll all have to live with after he floats away on his already huge raft of money ...
He lives in Bklyn but has no connection to Coney, and, as the prior poster wrote, would like nothing but turn it into Jersey Lite ...
He should either get a vision & lose the Napoleonic issues (Thor, whatta name) or stay the hell out ...
Oi Vay....
Leave friggin' Coney Island ALONE...unless you're giving money to the fellow who owns the
"Freak" show...!
He should be elected MAYOR OF CONEY ISLAND...
And let HIM decide what will be built..or NOT built on that sacared Boardwalk...
He had the foresight MANY years ago to bring that part of CL back to life....
JA~
Oi Vay....
Leave friggin' Coney Island ALONE...unless you're giving money to the fellow who owns the
"Freak" show...!
He should be elected MAYOR OF CONEY ISLAND...
And let HIM decide what will be built..or NOT built on that sacared Boardwalk...
He had the foresight MANY years ago to bring that part of CI back to life....
JA~
I LIVED IN CONEY ISLAND ALL MY LIFE AND ITS BORING. NO ONE CAN EVER SAY THAT APPLEBEES WILL SURVIVE OR NOT. NO ONE CAN SAY THE GAP OR A BOOK STORE WILL MAKE IT. CONEY ISLAND HAS NOTHING TO LOSE, LIKE SOMEONE SAID IT WILL RISE AND THEN COME BACK TO WHERE IT IS NOW...JUST DO IT. ITS THE ONLY WAY WE WILL FIND OUT. CI WILL ALLWAYZ BE CI NEVER NJ. WE NEED ALL YEAR ROUND THINGS TO DO IN CI.IF EVERYTHING WERE TO HAPPEND FAST NOTHING WILL DIE OUT YOU HAVE TO KEEP GOING. WOW A BASEBALL FIELD NOW ITS BORING , AND WHY BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING TO KEEP THE PEOPLE COMING BACK TO CI. THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE. GIVE THE PEOPLE SOMETHING TO SEE AND THEY WILL COME. EVERYTHING WE DO IN LIFE IS A GAMBLE. IF THIS BIG THOR CO. WANT TO INVEST THEN JUST DO IT.I HAVE A PLAN ALSO AND YES YOU CAN CALL IT A DREAM BUT IF I HAD THE RESOURCES TO BACK ME UP I WOULD TAKE THE CHANCE AT SUCCESS... I WILL MAKE MY PLAN WORK NO MATTER WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY OR THINK . THOR IF YOU HAVE THE GO AHEAD..... JUST DO IT...LETS MAKE THIS A HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR CONEY ISLAND