Nathan's as a "Towering Wiener Wonderland"?

Bless the Daily News for suggesting that Coney Island institution Nathan's Famous might become a "towering wiener wonderland with clubs, stores and hotel rooms," thanks for a provision in Coney Island development plans. We now dream of living in a building shaped like a hot dog, complete with relish-stucco exterior - and we'd hope our fellow tenants would be Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi and that there would be room service from Nathan's.

Anyway, back to reality: In the rezoning plans, Nathan's happens to be one of two blocks that would be "rezoned for towers" (and there are 50 blocks total up for rezoning), which could mean that the Nathan's building could grow upwards to 14 stories. A city planning spokeswoman told the News, "Nathan's would be given more opportunities for development on its property, which could lead to any one of a number of scenarios, including the expansion of Nathan's or its redevelopment as a new building."

However, Nathan's says there are "no plans to make any changes, either by discontinuing or expanding," and they are adopting a wait-and-see attitude. The Mayor released the city's vision of a new Coney Island last year, but will economic worries mean less investors interested in betting on Coney?

Photograph of Nathan's Famous in Coney Island by Brunocerous on Flickr