Salvation for Coney Island?

by Brian A Kennedy | August 7, 2007 at 06:34 am

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Call me an incorrigible optimist, but I've always thought the Thor-Equities-Will-Destroy-Coney-Island trope was a bit too cut-and-dried good vs. evil. Now the NY Post is reporting that the city may buy Thor's land along the boardwalk and swap it with some land a few blocks away from the coast; this would mean that the amusement parks and dive bars are saved and Thor gets its condos. Everyone's happy! Cue the sappy music and butterflies. Maybe....

August 7, 2007 -- A boardwalk land swap is on the table that could
salvage the fast-fading dream of returning Coney Island to its glory
days, The Post has learned.

With the Bloomberg administration and developer Joe Sitt at loggerheads
over whether housing should be included in his $1.5 billion glitzy
makeover plan, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff has offered an olive branch,
sources said.

Under Doctoroff's compromise, Sitt would give
the city the 10 acres of boardwalk land he owns along both sides of
Stillwell Avenue so that the city could sell or lease it to amusement
operators.

In return, the city would give Sitt about 350,000
square feet of land a few blocks west - the parking lot at KeySpan Park
and the Abe Stark Rink.

Such a deal would ensure the amusement
district can be revived without the luxury condos or time-share homes
that Sitt has said he needs to make the plan financially viable.

A source at Sitt's Thor Equities company said, "Joe is up for anything that will get this project going."

Doctoroff declined comment.