HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Global Projects & Construction > General Development


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #441  
Old Posted Mar 18, 2011, 4:00 AM
aquablue aquablue is offline
BANNED
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,741
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadcruiser1 View Post
These parks are temporarily anyway till the city gets real funding to build the permanent park. Why waste all the money on them when they aren't going to be there forever.
It seems they want to attract people in the meantime. However, I agree. I'm not too happy with the overall look. It appears rather boring and a little tacky. I hope they come up with something more classy for the permanent park that would attract more people who don't like thrill rides alone. I think something with more interesting architectural flourishes would be appropriate given the history of the place rather than the usual and typical 6-flags style approach. I'm sure they'll come up with something that will please a broader audience, because an ocean front site of a major world city is too much of a luxury to waste on just rides and greasy fast food outlets.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #442  
Old Posted Mar 19, 2011, 5:30 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
Quote:
Originally Posted by aquablue View Post
I hope they come up with something more classy for the permanent park that would attract more people who don't like thrill rides alone. I think something with more interesting architectural flourishes would be appropriate given the history of the place rather than the usual and typical 6-flags style approach.
Read a bit more of the thread.
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #443  
Old Posted Mar 28, 2011, 1:18 AM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #444  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2011, 4:18 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
From Elephant Man at coneyisland.com...
http://www.coneyisland.com/cgi-bin/y...num=1301178904

Quote:












__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #445  
Old Posted Mar 30, 2011, 1:51 AM
liat91 liat91 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Metropolis
Posts: 728
It'll be exciting when the first new building of any significant ht/sz goes up.
__________________
WATCH OUT!
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #446  
Old Posted Mar 30, 2011, 12:33 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
Quote:
Originally Posted by liat91 View Post
It'll be exciting when the first new building of any significant ht/sz goes up.
It's exciting now for the people who go there, and people who are discovering it for the first time. The new season begins April 16th. This is just the beginning of a long redevelopment process (if a decade or so can be considered long), and if last season was any indication, Coney Island is already on its way back.
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #447  
Old Posted Mar 31, 2011, 4:59 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...oney_site.html

Aqueduct flea market sellers eying move to Coney Island site

BY Irving Dejohn
March 31st 2011

Quote:
Vendors from the former Aqueduct Flea Market in South Ozone Park may have a new place to peddle their goods in Brooklyn if a new market opens.

Plans for a new carnival and flea market in Coney Island with former Aqueduct management at the helm are taking shape, the Daily News has learned.

While officials from the attraction, dubbed "BK Festival," declined requests for comment regarding details, the website set up to lure Aqueduct vendors speaks ambitiously of the new venture.

"Aqueduct's Flea Market Management, Tommy Walker & Tommy Brady, welcomes you to our new market bigger & better!!" reads the message on www.bkfestival.com.

The single-page website includes a registration form for interested vendors and promises "over 100,000 square feet of shoppers delight" and claims to be "opening soon for the 2011 season."


Richard David, executive director of the Indo-Caribbean Alliance, said several of the merchants are considering making the cross-borough move.

"A lot of vendors from Aqueduct will be headed to BK Festival once it opens," he said.

His Ozone Park-based nonprofit group has acted as a liaison between the vendors and officials to find them a suitable location to set up shop after more than 500 vendors were displaced from Aqueduct's parking lot for the construction of a racino.

"It's a risk and an opportunity. The opportunity to start over again, the opportunity to sell again is not one they will pass up," he said, noting details for the Coney Island market are not finalized.

One merchant who is considering signing up for the BK Festival is Pamela Alexander, who has a room in her house filled with inventory from last year. The Flatbush resident had been hawking shoes and jewelry at Aqueduct for three years before it shuttered and is desperate for the income she used to make there.

"I have a lot of stuff to sell with no way to sell it. It's hard, it's very hard," she said.

Alexander said she has already received a $700 quote from BK Festival officials for a 15-by-20-foot space. A similar plot at Aqueduct used to cost her $400, she said.

Yvonne Kissoon, former president of the Aqueduct Vendor's Association, said Walker and Brady were heavily involved in the defunct flea market and her experiences with them were positive.

"I have nothing more than great respect for them. If you had a problem or called for them, they would be right there to help," she said.

Kissoon said she has yet to contemplate her future as a vendor or a move to Coney Island, but wishes her Aqueduct cohorts success.

"I wish them all the very best," she said.

__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #448  
Old Posted Apr 1, 2011, 3:47 AM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
http://amusingthezillion.com/2011/03...proved-by-dob/

Thor’s Coney Island: Building Plans “Disapproved” by DOB

March 31, 2011 by Tricia


Quote:
In the words of T.S. Eliot: “April is the cruellest month…” Last April, Joe Sitt of Thor Equities announced plans to demolish the buildings he owned along Surf Avenue in Coney Island. Now when visitors step out of Stillwell Terminal, their first glimpse of Coney Island will be the blue construction fence surrounding Joe Sitt’s Wasteland–the newest empty lot in the real-estate speculator’s collection of empty lots. The temporary one-story building that Sitt filed a variety of plans to build beginning in October has yet to break ground because the DOB “DISAPPROVED” the plans as many as 16 times over the past six months.

Thor’s proposed construction is a “ONE STORY NEW COMMERCIAL BUILDING WITH ASSEMBLY AND AMUSEMENT SPACES AS INDICATED ON PLANS FILED HEREWITH.” If you look under “plan examination” you’ll see that they have filed for a variety of types of permits (equipment, new building, general construction, foundation & earthworks, fencing) with a corresponding number of disapprovals for each.

As shown under “all permits,” they have applied for and been issued permits for Foundations, Earthwork, and a Construction Fence in connection with the project. This will allow them to do the excavation and pour the foundations for the job, even while the New Building and other applications remain disapproved.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Pl...allbin=3245141

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Jo...ssdocnumber=01


__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #449  
Old Posted Apr 1, 2011, 8:06 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYguy View Post
Classics

Video Link
------
Video Link


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/b...aK4katMZhFguPK

Clickety-lack

By RICH CALDER
April 1, 2011

Quote:

If the city has its way, the thrill could soon be gone from Coney Island’s world-famous Cyclone roller coaster.

The landmarked ride could be losing a significant piece of its storied history – its wobbly old cars.

The city is seeking a permanent operator for the 84-year-old rickety wooden ride, and interested suitors include Donald Trump, the operators of Luna Park, and a New Jersey man who once held the world record for continuously riding the Cyclone.


Buried in a Parks Department “Request for Proposals” to potential leaseholders is a stipulation saying the winner is “expected” to “supply” the ride with new coaster cars.

While the ride is a city landmark, its three, 24-seat trains aren’t protected,
and that is sure to raise the hackles of adventure junkies who come from around the world to ride the backbreaking coaster just so they can say they survived.

“I’m dead-set against replacing the trains; they’re one of a kind and the originals,” said prospective bidder Michael Boodley, 53, of New Jersey, who in 1975 broke a record by taking 1,001 consecutive trips on the Cyclone -- only to see it shattered two years later.

City officials yesterday offered an hour-long tour to potential bidders interested in a 15-year lease to run the coaster with an option to expand operations with on-site food concessions and other amusements.

A Parks Department official giving the tour said, despite the RFP’s language, the winner would have an "option" to refurbish the trains, "if possible."

Following the tour, Boodley and business partner, Clair Hain of Sunbury, Pa.-based Great Coasters International, expressed interest in making a joint bid.

Boodley also said it would be “huge loss” if the trains are replaced, adding he believes they can be restored.

Also on hand and confirming interest in the Cyclone lease was Ronald Lieberman, vice president of special projects at The Trump Organization; and Valerio Ferrari, CEO of Zamperla USA, which runs Luna Park and is operating the Cyclone this summer through a temporary city lease.

Ferrari said he’d "prefer" refurbishing the trains but conceded that might not be feasible.

Tommy Bayiokos, a 45-year-old Brooklyn drummer and regular Cyclone rider, said “part of the thrill is it’s a rough, turbulent ride, and, if the cars were replaced with modern ones, it’s just not the same.”

Reigning “Miss Cyclone” and thrill-seeker Angie Pontani, agreed.

"I'm totally against replacing the trains unless there's a real safety issue,” Pontani said. “Part of the charm of riding the Cyclone is the clackety, clack you hear during the first climb."

There’s been two reported deaths linked to riding the Cyclone: a California man whose neck snapped in 2007 on his 53rd birthday, and a Coney Island man who was thrown to his death in 1988 after standing up.

There’s also been a few dozen riders over the decades who’ve filed lawsuits claiming serious injuries from the ride.

Meanwhile, "The Donald" wants to make the Cyclone his latest toy.

“Donald is very interested in the Cyclone because it’s a New York icon just like Wollman Rink and the Carousel he runs at Central Park, and he and his father have strong ties to Brooklyn,” said Lieberman.


Zamperla temporarily took over the ride after Carol Hill Albert, whose family ran the Cyclone since 1975, asked out of her city lease in October because operating the Cyclone had become "too costly."

She also operated fabled Astroland Park before closing its doors in 2008 and paving way for the opening on Luna Park in the same location last year.
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #450  
Old Posted Apr 3, 2011, 3:10 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...levy_park.html

City officials nix Coney Island summer concerts at Asser Levy Park



BY Erin Durkin
April 1st 2011

Quote:
The show won't go on for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's popular but controversial summer concerts at Asser Levy Park this year.

Faced with a lawsuit, city officials agreed this week to move the concerts out of the Coney Island park this summer.

Promoters haven't found a new spot yet, but Markowitz vowed the concerts - which he's hosted for more than 30 years - would happen.

"All options are on the table, and the shows will go on this summer," said spokesman Mark Zustovich.

Last year, opponents battling the massive $64 million amphitheater that Markowitz wants to build in the park sued to stop the concerts, citing a city law banning amplified sound within 500 feet of a house of worship. Two nearby synagogues are among the plaintiffs.

City officials scrambled to save last year's concerts - which featured the B-52s and John Legend - by changing the sound law, but the temporary change expired in the fall.

"We're not opposed to the concerts - just do it somewhere else," said Norman Siegel, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, who said the group is "pleased" by the city's decision to move the shows.

"This case is about the rule of law. The law says you can't have concerts within 500 feet," he said.

The deal applies only to this summer, and the sides are due back in court next week.

"At least this summer we know that there won't be any concerts there, but what about 2012, 2013? I'm keeping my fingers crossed," Siegel said.

The planned amphitheater...


http://static.worldarchitecturenews....ght_aerial.jpg



http://www.archicentral.com/page/92/



http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories..._05_21_bk.html
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #451  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2011, 1:41 AM
JSsocal JSsocal is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 714
I thought this quote was spot on:

"The notion that Coney Island generally is a prosperous place which only needs to be left alone by the city government to be prosperous and happy is eighteen carat bunk.

Some day the city will have to do something drastic and on a large scale to create the conditions under which private capital will do its part toward rebuilding Coney Island.

The future will take care of this."

~ Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, August 21, 1939
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #452  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2011, 3:34 AM
TinnitusClock TinnitusClock is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 19
Coney knows it.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #453  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2011, 6:19 AM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSsocal View Post
I thought this quote was spot on:

"The notion that Coney Island generally is a prosperous place which only needs to be left alone by the city government to be prosperous and happy is eighteen carat bunk.

Some day the city will have to do something drastic and on a large scale to create the conditions under which private capital will do its part toward rebuilding Coney Island.

The future will take care of this."

~ Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, August 21, 1939
Very ironic, that quote coming from Robert Moses, who many will argue did his part to destroy Coney Island. But for now, those words are 100% accurate.



Today was the Noise Festival at Coney Island, which also featured a Jazz Funeral for old Coney Island. Some photos from various posters at coneyisland.com...
http://www.coneyisland.com/cgi-bin/y...num=1301411499

jimvid

Quote:









From Elephant Man

Quote:






















Article in the NY Times...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/ny...oney.html?_r=2

Jazzy Funeral Parade Marks Coney Island’s Death and Rebirth

Quote:

On the Coney Island Boardwalk, dirge was replaced by Dixieland on Sunday as a New Orleans-style parade, whose second, upbeat half is often called the second line, glorified old-style attractions.


The funeral procession started slowly.

As it moved toward the Coney Island Boardwalk on West 12th Street on Sunday afternoon, the Jambalaya Brass Band played a hypnotic dirge. Pallbearers marched forward with a black coffin. The procession leaders, wearing dark suits and wingtip shoes, looked solemnly at the ground.

But when the group reached the Boardwalk, everything changed: The band switched to Dixieland jazz, and funeral marchers shimmied and swirled handkerchiefs overhead. A mermaid, wearing hot-pink high heels, a green skirt and a gold sash that said “Ms. Rebirth,” emerged from the coffin. And the procession’s leader, Darryl Young, began shouting.

“Yes to rebirth!” he said. “She is here!”

It was a traditional New Orleans jazz funeral, Coney Island-style.

The point, said James Demaria, the filmmaker and photographer who organized the event, was to memorialize the Coney Island of yesterday and prepare for the Coney Island of tomorrow.....

Dick D. Zigun, executive director of Coney Island USA, which runs a sideshow, the annual Mermaid parade and the Coney Island Museum, and who helped organize the funeral, called the event a poignant send-off for the old Boardwalk businesses and a symbol of a new, emerging Coney Island.

This summer, he said, the resort will have nearly as many rides as it did in the 1960s. Central Amusement’s Scream Zone, which includes four new rides and the first new roller coasters in Coney Island since 1927, is set to open this month.

Mr. Zigun said that a handful of new bars had opened on West 12th Street, and that rolling chairs — the human-powered rickshaws that rolled down the Boardwalk from the 1920s through the 1960s — might soon return to the beach.
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #454  
Old Posted Apr 5, 2011, 1:22 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/ny...1&ref=nyregion

With Its Move to Coney Island, Flea Market Is Sprucing Up

By LIZ ROBBINS
April 4, 2011

Quote:

Debbie Quintana-Stiefel knows it is time to expand her palette. Beyond the brown and deep-red lipsticks she carries, she must now add fuchsias and oranges and complementary foundations to satisfy her new customers.

It is a fairly significant change she plans to make to cover the even more diverse complexions of the Brooklyn women she expects to serve when her cosmetics stall moves from the defunct Aqueduct flea market to a new home in Coney Island.

For 33 years, Ms. Quintana-Stiefel was a fixture at a once-bustling racetrack parking lot in Ozone Park, Queens, that hosted 500 vendors. Developers shut down the market in December to build a new casino at the struggling track.

Now the market’s former operators are bringing a handpicked group of 120 vendors from Aqueduct to a smaller site in Brooklyn and introducing a freshly polished identity: no fleas allowed.

Strictly prohibiting secondhand goods, the market of 170 vendors will open on May 15 as part of a shopping and entertainment site called the BK Festival, representing another step in Coney Island’s ambitious, if often contentious, redevelopment plan.

Sitting on Stillwell Avenue, one block from Surf Avenue, the 110,000-square-foot space will also have a fairground for concerts, rodeos, corporate-sponsored giveaways and pony rides.


“They’re going to put some lace and frills to dress it up a bit,” Ms. Quintana-Stiefel, 56, said. “That’s a good thing for me.”

Ms. Quintana-Stiefel, whose wholesale business, Allessia Kosmetics, built a loyal following of Caribbean, African and Central American customers at Aqueduct, was curious to see how the Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge faces would change her stock.

“Aqueduct got big and it got sloppy — this will be a classier act,” she said.

Tommy Brady, 53, an owner of the BK Festival, said, “We want it to fit in more with the whole program of the new Coney Island.” He managed the Aqueduct market with his partner, Tommy Walker, 60, for 13 years.

On Wednesday, the “two Tommies,” as vendors know them, and their event director, William McCarthy, plan to sign the contract with the developer of the property, Joseph J. Sitt.

In 2009, the Bloomberg administration paid Mr. Sitt, 46, the chief executive of Thor Equities, $95.6 million for 6.9 acres he owned in Coney Island; he kept 5.6 acres to develop hotels and stores with the goal of turning Coney Island into a year-round destination. He has razed some older buildings, angering some in the community, but the festival space on Stillwell was already vacant.

That site represents the first part of Mr. Sitt’s vision, even if it will only be seasonal, through October.


“It’s a little nostalgic — I started my businesses as a flea market operator at the Aqueduct,” Mr. Sitt said. At 16, he sold toys when the flea market was known as Barterama, waking up at 2 a.m. to load a truck and grab a corner stall.

Three decades later, his family-friendly concept is more sophisticated, based on focus groups and testing. Two years ago, when the Aqueduct gaming project seemed imminent, he recruited vendors, from pickle makers to bakers, alongside entertainers for a monthlong stint in Coney Island. The results convinced him the model would work.

“There will be no used goods, no dollar goods, but it will be all upscale product, almost like an outlet center,” Mr. Brady said. “We’re not here to hurt nobody; we want to help Coney Island.”

But in Queens, the market’s closing has left some in the immigrant communities missing a primary option for low-cost shopping.

“When we look back at what we lost, we’ll realize in South Queens that we’re not only giving up something that was really historic, it was a support system for many people who would send products back to their native communities,” said Richard S. David, the executive director of the Indo-Caribbean Alliance in Ozone Park.

He said that an impression had been created, unfairly, that the market had represented something “low-scale and unattractive.”

Some former vendors have found other sites. Mike Thai, 26, said he now sold “cheap watches” at a flea market behind the Sunrise Cinemas in Valley Stream, on Long Island. Mr. Thai said he neither wanted to travel to Coney Island, nor pay what he heard were higher rents.

The prices, factoring in total square feet, are the same, Mr. Walker said, because the stalls are slightly larger in Coney Island. The Aqueduct flea market ran three days a week, while the Coney Island market will operate on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Mr. Brady said that while no shuttles were planned to take former shoppers the 13 miles from Queens, he hoped to have a trolley within Brooklyn.

“It’s been very tough; Aqueduct was my life,” said Yvonne Kissoon, 52, who had sold lingerie there since 1987 and has her shop nearby. She is excited to have a corner stall at Coney Island; she said she trusted Mr. Walker’s and Mr. Brady’s business skills.

“We don’t know what we’re going to get into,” Ms. Kissoon said, “but it’s better to try than fail to try.”

http://www.bkfestival.com/
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

Last edited by NYguy; Apr 5, 2011 at 1:55 PM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #455  
Old Posted Apr 6, 2011, 1:57 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/201...011_4_7_bk.txt

Concrete jungle! Panel rejects city's latest plan for cement boardwalk

By Alex Rush
April 5, 2011

Quote:

Concrete-hating Community Board 13 has rejected the Parks Department’s latest proposal to keep a cement path along the Riegelmann Boardwalk, but cover some of the iconic waterfront walkway with recycled plastic lumber.

The board voted on March 21 against the proposal, which is an alternative to the agency’s original plan to convert the entire three-mile stretch into cement. Most locals say that making a third of the Boardwalk concrete would still turn the iconic wooden walkway into a highway.

“We don’t want any concrete!” said Robert Burstein, a member of the board and founder of the Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance, a Boardwalk advocacy group. “They are prioritizing vehicles over people.”

The city says it will present a new plan to the board next month, according to spokesman Philip Abramson, but it will still insist on installing the less-expensive cement, which he says is strong enough for the police cars patrolling the area and trucks that use it to make deliveries.

But locals say that recycled plastic lumber, which, at the very least, resembles the famous wooden planks, could easily withstand the weight of vehicles.

“It’s unacceptable and unnecessary when there are alternative materials the city could use,” Burstein said.

In addition to loathing the look of the scored and colored concrete, many fear the material could scorch pedestrians’ feet and may not protect the waterfront from the ocean during a storm.

“People are not going to be able to walk barefoot over that. They’re going to burn their feet,” said Brighton Beach activist Ida Sanoff, who added that “if waves hit a hard concrete surface, it’s energy will not dissipate and there’s an opportunity for great property damage.”

But the city says that cost is the biggest factor when it determines what material should be used.

According to the city, concrete costs $90 per square-foot, compared to $114 per square foot for a concrete slab topped with recycled plastic lumber.

“Concrete is less expensive to use, can last decades rather than up to 10 years, and requires virtually no maintenance,” said Meghan Lalor, a spokeswoman for the Parks Department, last fall. “It is significantly more effective than the other choices.”

The Parks Department also disputes residents’ notions that artificial wood is just as durable as concrete. Over the summer, city officials had installed both concrete planks and a “faux-wood” called recycled plastic lumber to test both materials. The agency concluded that the concrete was more durable than the faux wood, and didn’t get slippery.

The city hasn’t announced when the concrete boardwalk will be installed.
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #456  
Old Posted Apr 7, 2011, 9:35 AM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...an_panned.html

City nixes paving Coney Island Boardwalk with concrete, but new plan panned



A new section of boardwalk made out of concrete (l.), compared with wood (r.), on the Coney Island Boardwalk has been met with negative reviews.

BY Erin Durkin
April 7th 2011

Quote:

City officials have inched away from a plan to pave the Coney Island Boardwalk with concrete - but Boardwalk purists are still outraged by the new proposal.

After fierce criticism, the city Parks Department tweaked a plan to turn a five-block stretch of the Boardwalk into an all-concrete walkway, but it's not dropping concrete altogether.

Instead, the department wants a strip of concrete down the middle of the Boardwalk with imitation wood on either side.


That didn't satisfy critics, who say concrete will ruin the famous strip.

"Same song, different verse," said Brighton Beach activist Ida Sanoff. "It's the iconic Coney Island Boardwalk and you're going to turn it into a sidewalk, a highway."

The current plan is for the stretch of the Boardwalk from Brighton 15th St. to Coney Island Ave., but officials eventually plan to rebuild most of the fabled but decaying walkway the same way. Only a few blocks in the Coney Island amusement area got a traditional wood makeover.

"They claim that just the amusement area is historic," said Friends of the Boardwalk President Todd Dobrin. "From Brighton to Coney ... the whole thing's historic to me."


He said he's "pleased that they're listening and they understand that the community's concerns have to be addressed," but he still kicked sand at the new plan.

"You can't call it a Boardwalk anymore if it's concrete," he said.

After the latest round of criticism from Community Board 13, Parks Department officials say they're considering more changes.

"We will consider reducing the size of the concrete section," said Borough Parks Commissioner Kevin Jeffrey, who said the department would present a revised design this month.

Officials favor concrete because it's cheaper - $90 a square foot compared with $114 for plastic lumber and $138 for wood - and more durable. But residents charge the main reason the wood planks take such a beating is that city vehicles often drive on it.

"They're more concerned with being able to have vehicles on the Boardwalk than the actual visitors to the Boardwalk," said Bruni Figueroa, 52, of Brighton Beach.
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #457  
Old Posted Apr 11, 2011, 3:22 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
http://therealdeal.com/newyork/artic...-thor-equities

Will Smith to save Coney's oldest building?



April 11, 2011 10:00AM


Quote:
Hollywood has come to the rescue for Coney Island's oldest building. According to local blog Amusing the Zillion, the producers of "Men in Black 3" have leased the dilapidated Grashorn Building, once in danger of demolition, from developer Thor Equities and plan to rehabilitate its interior for use during filming next month.

The structure, at 1104 Surf Avenue, is said to date back to the 1880s and served as a hardware store for local businesses for more than 60 years. But more recently, it has sat vacant, save for some squatters, and fallen into disrepair.

Locals and preservationists had feared that meant the Grashorn was a likely target for demolition by Thor, though earlier this year a "For Lease" sign on the building raised hopes that it could be, at least temporarily, saved, and the rehab project by its new Hollywood tenants bodes well for the future. Will Smith and Josh Brolin will land on Coney Island to film "Men in Black 3" from May 2 and May 6, and the movie is set to be released next year.
http://amusingthezillion.com/2011/04...dest-building/
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #458  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2011, 2:12 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
http://brooklyn.ny1.com/content/top_...--bk-festival-

Vendors To Flock To Coney Island During "BK Festival"

By: Jeanine Ramirez
April 11, 2011

Quote:
The human slingshot got a test run Monday as Coney Island's newest amusement park, Scream Zone, got its finishing touches before opening for the season.

Along with the rides comes another addition to this corridor along Stillwell Avenue, the BK Festival, which will be run by the organizers behind the now-defunct Aqueduct Flea Market and will resemble a state fair.

"You've got all types of eclectic products that are coming from via the Aqueduct Flea Market, from pickle vendors from upstate New York, to little small outdoor amusements, to concerts, to rodeos," said Thor Equities CEO Joe Sitt.

The festival will take over two vacant properties, which Sitt owns across the street from each other. Sitt said he has a personal affinity for the Aqueduct Flea Market, because he himself was a vendor there when he was a teenager.

"I look at this as a continuation in some ways of that original dream and vision of what I did in the Aqueduct," says Sitt. "It's about outdoor entertainment, about excitement. It's about people."

Sitt also has plans for his property along Surf Avenue. In a controversial move, he demolished most of the old buildings, saying they were not worth saving.

This week he will give the site a new start, laying in foundation for a one-story building to use as an indoor amusement and retail space next summer. But he says his real dream is to build hotels.

"It'll take about seven years to put in the electricity and the utilities and the infrastructure that's needed for the long term Coney Island," says Sitt.
"But I think this is going to be a pretty good, pretty high-quality interim use plan that people are going to be seeing in Coney Island."

Businesses are already planning for the crowds. The grand opening of Scream Zone is scheduled for next week and the BK Festival should be up and running by mid-May.
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #459  
Old Posted Apr 13, 2011, 3:02 PM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/201...011_4_5_bk.txt

Thor Equities tries a new outdoor flea market this May

By Alex Rush
April 12, 2011

Quote:

Coney Island “developer” Joe Sitt, the local boy who owns a large portion of the People’s Playground but has yet to build anything atop it, is again bringing a flea market to his Stillwell Avenue lots in a scheme similar to one that failed miserably in 2009 — and other stakeholders in the area say it’s time for his company, Thor Equities, to actually put a shovel in the ground.

“The lots aren’t being used properly,” said Dick Zigun, who runs the all-year-round Coney Island Sideshows by the Seashore. “There should be year-round entertainment there.”

Some say that the lots, which are about the size of two football fields and are located on both sides of Stillwell Avenue below Surf Avenue, should house things like bowling alleys, movie theaters and restaurants — not an outdoor fair that will end in October. The lots’ zoning permits a temporary fair ground, but that usage doesn’t gel with the city’s vision for a glitzy Coney Island that thrives through the winter.

“It’s a travesty and not what Coney Island is about,” said Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance founder Robert Burstein. “People come to Coney Island for an amusement experience, not flea markets.”

The BK Festival is slated to launch May 15 in the Sitt-owned vacant lots and will feature carnival acts, games, food booths, inflatable bounce houses and about 120 retail vendors that operated at the now-defunct Aqueduct Flea Market in Queens, which closed after more than 30 years to make way for a casino.

The BK Festival’s format is similar to Sitt’s much-hyped temporary fair, which failed to open the 25 rides it had originally promised and disappointed locals with its cheap market offerings.

But the company Sitt booked to run the BK Festival — former Aqueduct Flea Market management — says that the new fair will be more high-end than Festival by the Sea.

“We’ll have upscale retail and there won’t be any second-hand clothes,” said BK Festival Director Will McCarthy. “Don’t connect 2009 with what we’re doing — the difference is like night and day.”

McCarthy touted the BK Festival attractions that he’s most excited about, which will include a booth for healthy cooking demos and magic shows.

This isn’t the first time that Sitt’s projects have clashed with both the city and the community. In the summer of 2008, Sitt’s self-described “Summer of Hope” carnival turned into the “Summer of Nope” when the carnies packed up early. That same season, Astroland closed because of a contract dispute with longtime operator Carol Albert.

And in November 2009, the city bought seven acres of property that Sitt had owned since 2005 to pursue Mayor Bloomberg’s redevelopment vision. Buying out Sitt was a key component of the Bloomberg administration’s plan to jump-start the long-stalled renaissance of Coney Island.

Sitt had his own vision of a $2-billion, 24-7-365-day-a-year Xanadu with hotels, malls, new rides and indoor attractions, but city officials refused to talk to him about the zoning change Sitt would need.

Sitt still owns five acres of Coney, but has never built anything. The BK Festival is set for a single season run, though there’s no word yet if Sitt is planning something more permanent than an outdoor flea for the Stillwell Avenue lots, according to his spokesman Stefan Friedman.

__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #460  
Old Posted Apr 14, 2011, 4:41 AM
NYguy's Avatar
NYguy NYguy is offline
New Yorker for life
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,747
Coney Island Photo Diary





















The two faces of Coney this year...

sowhatithaps







A third...





__________________
NEW YORK is Back!

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
Reply With Quote
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Global Projects & Construction > General Development
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 2:55 PM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.