One of the more intriguing new developments at Coney Island this summer is the introduction of a new flea market—er, sorry, make that festival—featuring many of the displaced vendors from the Aqueduct Flea Market in Queens. And while there were promises of 120 "upscale" retail vendors, carnival acts, games, food booths and inflatable bounce houses, Amusing the Zillions stopped by during opening weekend and found that wasn't quite the case. more ›

We're told that Luna Park, the new Coney Island amusement park on the former Astroland site that's now owned by the city, will be opening this weekend as planned. Workers have been laboring around the clock to finish the park, which features 19 new rides, including a spinning roller coaster called The Tickler, a "Wild River" ride inspired by the original Luna Park ride Shoot the Chutes, a ride called Surf's Up which buffets riders with simulated winds, and Air Race, which will have riders "doing corkscrews in jets." Here are some photos taken on Tuesday, and it looks like they're really cutting it close on this one. more ›

We can't stop wondering, is there anything gazillionaire developer Joe "Coney Island Grinch" Sitt can't turn to crap with a wave of his gold card? His latest controversial move would take a wrecking ball to four turn-of-the century buildings along Surf Avenue which are located in a proposed historic district. In their place, Sitt wants to throw up some kind of vague shopping plaza food court eyesore. He says the intention is to offer "family-friendly games, food, shopping and other activities," but if this rendering is any indication, it's going to be filled with generic fast food franchises and other ubiquitous chains. And people on Coney Island are pissed, again. more ›

Is there anything gazillionaire developer Joe "Coney Island Grinch" Sitt can't turn to crap with a wave of his gold card? Having finished holding the Coney Island amusement district hostage, Sitt's dreaming up the future of Red Hook, where he owns land between the Ikea and the Fairway. Both were controversial additions to the sleepy, cobblestone waterfront, which was most recently besieged by the cast of MTV's The Real World. Sitt's latest idea for a neighborhood so full of potential and diminishing returns? Dorms, dude. more ›

Looks like all the freaks will return to Coney Island this summer. Sideshow operator John Strong, who you may remember from 5-legged-puppygate, announced yesterday that his show will go on. He'll be moving to the ex-Grashorn's Hardware building site on Surf Avenue, according to the NY Post, which is Coney's oldest buliding. He's allegedly made a new deal with developer Joe Sitt, but mums the word for now—however, Strong said he wants to expand and is the front-runner to lease more Sitt-owned land on Stillwell Avenue. So much for supporting Coney Island mainstay, Dick Zigun and his Circus Sideshow. more ›

Crazy Coney Island news just keeps on coming. Less than a week after Mayor Bloomberg reached a $95.7 million deal to purchase 6.9 acres of the neighborhood's ailing amusement district from landowner Joe Sitt, the city has announced plans to bring ferry service back to the People's Playground, the Post reports. The city will use $3.2 million of federal transportation funds to study the feasibility of commuter ferry service from three possible dock locations: West Eighth Street near the New York Aquarium, the existing Steeplechase Pier near KeySpan Park, and in Coney Island Creek. more ›

The Bloomberg administration will spend $95.7 million in taxpayer money to purchase 6.9 acres of land in the Coney Island amusement district from millionaire developer Joe Sitt. The deal, which will be officially announced tomorrow, marks the end of a long stalemate between the city and Sitt, who is widely reviled in Coney Island for buying up property, evicting longtime tenants, and letting prime real estate remain vacate as way of essentially blackmailing the city into meeting his demands. Sitt had originally proposed a $1.5 billion Las Vegas style resort, with condos and shopping, but the Bloomberg administration had plans of their own. more ›

Very recently Thor Equities' Joe Sitt shut down Dreamland, Coney Island’s biggest amusement park, after a rent dispute with the park’s operator Anthony Raffaelle. Sure, half a million dollars is nothing to scoff at, but the summering masses want their amusements! So Councilman Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. has stepped in, and his intervening has gotten the padlocks taken off the site. In a statement we received this afternoon, he says, “Dreamland provided jobs to the community and was a big attraction for visitors. After discussing the issue with Thor, they agreed to reopen for the Labor Day weekend. I would like to thank Thor recognizing the importance of Dreamland in Coney Island. Thor and the site’s operator have agreed to work out their rent issues in the coming weeks." Upon the closure, Raffaelle had told NY1, "First of all they came down here, they quadrupled everybody's rent in Coney Island. Nobody in Coney Island can pay their rent now." more ›

After years of discussion, the City Council voted 44-2-1 in favor of rezoning Coney Island per the Bloomberg administration's plan for the 27-acre area, which includes hotels, retail shops, and a new roller coaster. And it looks like the city is working out a deal with Thor Equites' Joe Sitt, the developer who bought much of the land at Coney Island in hopes of his own ambitious hotel-amusement park plans. more ›

Despite objections from Save Coney Island and others, the City Council's land-use committee approved the city's controversial rezoning of Coney Island, putting the plan on track for full Council approval on July 29th. Some opponents were hoping the committee would send the plan back to the drawing board so that the proposed open-air amusement park be expanded and four high-rise hotel towers planned for the south side of Surf Avenue could be relocated. According to City Room, Councilman Dominic Recchia Jr. hinted that the city may expand the amusement area, but that will only happen if the Bloomberg administration can finalize a long-stalled deal to buy 10.5 acres of land from developer Joe Sitt before the full council votes. Sitt, who could probably best Bruce Ratner in a douchiest developer contest, told the Post yesterday, "I'm the guy who controls this—it's my sandbox." He added that he's willing "to share my sandbox with my friend Mayor Mike," but Mike wants to buy the land outright, and hasn't ruled out seizing the sandbox through eminent domain. more ›

Despite protest from Coney Island residents who say they need more affordable housing, the City Planning Commission voted 12-0 today to approve a controversial rezoning plan for the area. The proposal would rezone Coney Island to encourage the development of towers up to 27 stories tall, expand retail spaces, add 4,500 new housing units (800 of which would be affordable units), and create a new 27-acre indoor-outdoor amusement and entertainment district. more ›

Will the battle for Coney Island ever end? The NY Post reports on the latest between developer Joe Sitt (current owner of the land) and Mayor Bloomberg (wannabe owner of the land). Sitt has finally spoken publicly, saying "that his 10½ acres of beachfront property is no longer for sale and that he, not the city, should be rebuilding the rundown seaside area," adding emphatically, "We don't want to sell, we want to build." The city doesn't think Sitt is qualified, preferring to rezone and develop the 47 acres itself, but Sitt claims his $92 million investment now holds a pricetag closer to $150 million, about $45 million off from what the city offered earlier this year. Sitt's been sitting on the land for about three years now, and claims "the city's overall rezoning plan is so flawed that it makes it unlikely for either his redevelopment proposal or the city's to succeed"—the plan is being voted on by the city Planning Board later this month. Can't we all just agree on something that will make this a reality? more ›

Coney Island land baron and would-be developer Joe Sitt has been fighting, with the help of City Council ally Domenic Recchia Jr., to get the city to change its proposed rezoning plan and expand the potential retail space from 2,500 square feet to 10,000 square feet. Opponents have predicted a Coney Island clogged with generic chains if Sitt gets his way, and now Brownstoner has a scoop proving they were right to fear the worst: more ›

It's on! John Strong's freak show is officially headed East to set up shop on Coney Island this summer, just blocks from Dick Zigun's Coney Island Circus Sideshow. A press release announces that this summer visitors to the area will be greeted by more than 25 fun-filled rides and dozens of circus freaks, courtesy of John Strong’s Shows, allegedly the largest collection of oddities and freaks in all of America. Did we mention his entourage includes a 17-inch horse named Tiny? more ›

The Times has 1,391 words on the state of the Coney Island "redevelopment" process, but the diagnosis can basically be boiled down to just one: stasis. There's not much new here for those who've been following along with the various competing proposals for the amusement district and surrounding neighborhood, but the article is a pretty disheartening portrait of urban planning gone nowhere. Joe Sitt, the developer who has bought up most of the land and essentially evicted Astroland, isn't negotiating with the city anymore; their talks broke down around Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, nothing's being done besides a long-overdue repair of the Boardwalk, and fears are mounting that, given the economy, none of these grand plans will come to fruition, leaving local businesses in dire limbo. Charles Denson, executive director of the Coney Island History Project, tells the Times, "We might be looking at vacant lots for a long time to come. Everybody’s broke. These massive plans, these visions, don’t usually work. But I hope for the best." more ›

Check it out, check it out! Red Hook may have lost its iconic Revere Sugar Refinery Dome, but look what the neighborhood is gaining on that mostly-cleared parcel of land adjacent to IKEA: A 376,000 square foot shopping mall with a massive BJ's, the discount big box wholesaler you can find all over the United States of Generica! These renderings leaked to Curbed/Racked reveal the vast breadth of the project (first hinted at last September), which would be the largest retail development in over two decades. If you build it, they will shop? more ›

After a heavy-handed scare tactic on Christmas Eve, Coney Island developer Joe Sitt is expected to offer new leases to nearly a dozen Boardwalk tenants—except for one: funky pink-hued boutique Lola Staar. As previously reported in the Brooklyn Paper, Lola owner Dianna Carlin believes Sitt and his company Thor Equities are retaliating against her for her outspoken criticism. She tells the Daily News, "No one knows better than me how vicious and evil they are but it still astounds me." Yeah, one could see how comments like that could sorta backfire. Carlin, who says she's "heartbroken," reveals that a Sitt lackey called her recently to say, "We're kicking you out. Have a Happy New Year." Michael Sarrel, co-owner of Ruby's, says, "We believe we are being renewed, but as of today I don't know for sure. There's a substantial rent increase. The truth is the previous rent was fair. The new rent is unfair." more ›

With a deal to sell some of his prime Coney Island boardwalk real estate to the city stalled, developer Joe Sitt is moving to snatch up more land in an attempt to build a controversial entertainment-amusement-hotel complex. Kansas Fried Chicken king Horace Bullard tells the Post that he's "leaning toward" selling the former Thunderbolt roller coaster site to Sitt for $91 million. Those three acres would tighten Sitt's grip on most of the land stretching from Keyspan Park to the Cyclone. more ›

, "I'm playing the long shot." more ›

It looks like would-be Coney Island developer Joe Sitt has gone all Henry F. Potter this Christmas, sending workers out last night to put up "For Lease" signs on boardwalk properties owned by his company, Thor Equities. A commenter on the Coneyisland.com message board snapped some photos last night and this morning, depicting the signs above such indispensible boardwalk mainstays as Nathan's and scruffy dive bar Ruby's Bar & Grill. more ›

Could it be that Reverend Billy prematurely administered last rites to Astroland, that highly romanticized jumble of third-rate county fair rides? After yesterday's report that unnamed officials were trying to broker a deal between Astroland owner Carol Albert and developer Joe Sitt (to whom she sold her 3 acres of property for $30 million in 2006), Mayor Bloomberg has now publicly entered the fray. Hizzoner told reporters yesterday that it "would be a shame if we lost" the Astroland rides, which are now up for sale. "What we're trying to do is to get Astroland to have another one-year extension of their lease so that we can get the rezoning done and then hopefully come to an agreement with Thor." Albert has not commented on the resuscitation efforts since closing Astroland for good on Sunday; a spokesman for Sitt insists there are no negotiations under way with the city or Albert. more ›

Well, forget about getting any closure; less than 48 hours after Coney Island amusement park Astroland supposedly shut down forever, city officials are working behind the scenes to try and keep it alive. The Daily News hears buzz from an unnamed official that if property owner Joe Sitt can be convinced to temporarily extend Astroland's lease, the city will agree to lease land to Astroland owner Carol Albert if and when a controversial plan for a new amusement area gets approved. But there are a lot of ifs at play here, and Albert has already moved to sell off the rides. Another catch is that both sides say no one from the city has contacted them. Albert's spokesman struck a bitter note: "Talk is cheap. It's just too much of an upstream swim at this point." more ›

Another over-the-top Coney Island development proposal is in the works. Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a plan today to build the nation's biggest urban amusement park there, including 4,500 residential units (20 percent are set-asides for low- and middle-income housing) and some retail establishments. The proposal basically spells doom for Thor Equities' $1.5 million Vegas-style entertainment complex that can only get built if the city provides zoning for it. Don't worry, the Cyclone isn't going anywhere.... more ›

Time for everyone to say good-bye to Coney Island, as the 2007 season for Astroland's "Big Park" and Cyclone ends today (the kiddie park will be open through mid-October). And with real estate developer Thor Equities and the city battling it out over Coney Island's future, it's unclear whether the park will reopen next year. more ›

Hold on, hold on. After yesterday's reports that City Councilman Domenic Recchia was working on a deal to keep Coney Island's Astroland amusement park in place for the 2008 season, it turns out that the negotiations may have hit a snag. AM New York reports that Astroland has not received a lease extension. Owner Carol Albert said, "Of course, if Thor Equities wishes to provide a lease, under reasonable terms, Astroland would be very interested in negotiating an agreement." more ›

While it just opened for the season on Sunday, it looks like Astroland has a chance at staying open beyond the 2007 season. That's if Thor Equities, the company that purchased the land Astroland sits on, doesn't get its way on development plans. Astroland's status now depends on whether there are any delays to Thor's future plans. Joe Sitt of Thor told The Post that he's "willing to keep Astroland open" and "the last thing I want is for Coney Island to go dark." more ›

As Thor Equities gets closer to sinking its teeth into developing/redeveloping there, Astroland will open up again for its last season this weekend. Astroland owners sold the property to Thor last fall and Carol Hill Albert said back in November, "It's not something we're happy about; it's sad. It was the only logical alternative to going out of business altogether." Now, Albert tells the NY Sun, "I think [Thor Equities founder] Joe Sitt has been taking all the city's attention and energy." more ›