Brooklyn neighborhood famous for its
arcades and rides. The 20-block rezoning plan had its public debut at a Department of City Planning review session.
In total, the Coney Island rezoning would
encompass 47 acres of developable land.
According to the DEIS, the plan would
establish a 27-acre amusement and entertainment district that would include a
9.39-acre mapped open amusement park
as its centerpiece. Outside the mapped
parkland, the proposed rezoning aims
to create 584,664 square feet of amusement and amusement-enhancing uses
including restaurants; 606 hotel rooms;
2,408 residential units, of which 607
would be affordable; 43,236 square feet
of accessory retail in the so-called Coney
East subdistrict; 277,715 square feet of
general retail outside the amusement
and entertainment district; and 3,803
parking spaces, including 566 spaces for
public use.
The Bloomberg administration is making it a priority to establish the area as a
12-month tourist destination. “The plan
to revitalize Coney Island will substantially
increase the storied amusement area,
creating a year-round attraction that will
bring tourists and visitors to Brooklyn,”
says Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
When Bloomberg discussed the rezoning before a Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce audience in 2007, he said the city
would work with existing landowners to
acquire many of the properties in Coney
East. One such landowner is Thor Equities, which owns Astroland and other
Coney Island properties and has its own
plans for the area. The city and Thor
have yet to reach an agreement on selling the properties.
A spokesman for the developer says,
“Despite being the largest landowner in
the area that the city is proposing to rezone, Thor has yet to see the city’s plan.
We will withhold any comment until we
carefully review the city’s materials.”
first to seek LEED certification from the
US Green Building Council. The project
has a 2012 completion date.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the
courthouse project represents the
city’s biggest capital investment for
a building in the borough’s history.
Currently a municipal parking lot, the
four-acre site will contain the five-story
courthouse building, a 660-car parking garage and a memorial green. The
courthouse will replace facilities cur-
rently housed in separate buildings at
67 Targee St., 18 Richmond Terr., the
Homeport and Borough Hall. It will
contain six civil courtrooms and eight
criminal courtrooms.
The five-story parking garage will include 500 spaces available to the public
and 160 spaces for court personnel. Seventy-seven additional parking spaces will
be made available on a section of the site
that is being reserved for possible future
development. —RENY
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Ground Broken on SI
Courthouse Project
The city broke ground in late December
on a 182,720-square-foot courthouse facility in Staten Island’s St. George neighborhood. With a $220-million budget,
the project is the borough’s first courthouse in more than 75 years and the city’s
CAPITALIZE
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