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Today will be the last ride for Coney Island's Astroland. That will leave park owner Carol Albert with two dozen rides and 16 trailers worth of items accumulated over 46 years to clear out by next January in order to avoid fines from land owners Thor Equities. In order to clear out ASAP, Albert has already put several of the rides up for sale online from a firm called "Rides-4-U." Rides such as Dante's Inferno and Top Spin can be bought for prices ranging from $200k-$500k.
Albert says that she has offered the Astro Tower to both the city and the New York Aquarium so that it could remain on the boardwalk, but that there hasn't been any interest from either. "I probably waited too long, but I was really hoping we could get a deal done," she told the NY Post. Gowanus Lounge first caught the rides being listed for sale and says that many old rides from American parks often end up in carnivals or amusement parks in Latin America and Asia.
Meanwhile, the group Save Coney Island will be fighting back tears and out in full force passing out flyers on the last day of their beloved amusement park. Even with Astroland gone, the group hopes to preserve Coney Island for amusements instead of Thor's plans to transform the area for residential, hotel and retail uses.
Photograph by jayKayEss on Flickr
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Seriously though, WHO is going to take the trip out to coney island to visit a strip mall? Does the developer really think those crowds will be around to visit his Applebees?
Yeah -- we all know what Coney Island really needs is a Gap, a Starbucks, and a luxury condo.
I predict the only thing they end up building there is more luxury condos.
Most of these big building projects that screw people (See: Ratner) tend to be smokescreens for luxury condos.
Now part of the thing with this is that Albert probably took the money from Thor because she thought she would get screwed when Thor would improperly get the city to eminent domain the land away from them.
The whole Thor plan is destined for failure, but the politicians love developers and their money.
I don't think the people that go to Coney are the luxury condo and mall types. Thor is going to fail. It's a shame it had to end like this.
That's exactly the point. Thor doesn't want the "old school" Coney visitors who go for amusements. They want well-to-do residents who would pay seven figures for new beachfront condos, which is why they don't want places like Astroland around.
something i can't seem to understand in the "let's build condos in coney" theory by thor et all is how the hell are they going to deal with the surrounding areas? do they plan on knocking down all the pj's as well? coney is not exactly brooklyn heights!!
who in their right mind would pay 7 figures for a condo there??
it's sad that a century of history is down the tubes as of today. this is the beginning of the end for the "real" coney island, warts and all.
something that i find very special about coney is that it has to be one of the most (if not the most) diverse places in brooklyn and has been for many many years. take a look around and you will see everyone from latinos, hassidics, black/white ppl, russians, and even hipsters (ha) over the last few years etc all enjoying a very inimitable brooklyn experience. rip coney !!
I'm sure they can find some way to gate the community and keep the rabble out. Anyone who can afford a luxury condo probably won't be relying on the Q train. Your basic SUV driven through automatic gates onto private grounds into an underground garage sounds more like it.
Aren't there projects in Fort Greene, too? Yet people pay a lot for houses there and multimillion dollar condos in nearby DUMBO are hot.
I just hope some millionaire with fond memories of Coney Island comes along and purchases all the rides and places them somewhere accessible to the public as a nice 'fuck you scumbag' to Thor Equities.
They do it all the time successfully. Many luxury hi rises are right smack next to NYC housing projects in Manhattan. They still get tenants.
"They do it all the time successfully. Many luxury hi rises are right smack next to NYC housing projects in Manhattan. They still get tenants."
Not to be overly Manhattan-centric, but the key word there is really IN MANHATTAN. Scarcity of housing combined with proximity to work means people are willing to make compromises for Manhattan housing -- look at all the people paying 2k/month for what amounts to a closet.
Coney Island, on the other hand, is WAY out there, far away from the places most people in the city (especially people who are in the market for luxury condos) work and play. It's inconvenient. I get the point that people have bought luxury condos in non-hot neighborhoods before, but the buyers market is contracting and DUMBO, Ft. Greene, Bushwick, etc. are still substantially more convenient/central locations than CI is. I see any attempt to build luxury high rises in Coney ending in utter failure.
"Anyone who can afford a luxury condo probably won't be relying on the Q train. Your basic SUV driven through automatic gates onto private grounds into an underground garage sounds more like it." spirito76
I live in Coney Island.
What you are describing is Oceana Condos at Brighton Beach, just a ten minute ride up Brighton Beach Ave from Coney Island. It is a real possibility this will happen in Coney. There is a lot of Russian money involved here.