From left: Eldorado Auto Skooters, at 1216-1218 Surf Avenue and Joseph Sitt of Thor Equities

Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities has closed on the purchase of another set of parcels of land in Coney Island, Amusing the Zillion blog reported. The sale, for $4.5 million, included two buildings: the Eldorado Auto Skooters at 1216-1218 Surf Avenue, and the arcade at 1215 Bowery. The beloved bumper cars, also called the Eldorado Auto Skooters, may continue to operate for up to a year, according to other reports from ATZ. [more]

A rendering of the unveiled Coney Island entrance (credit: NYC Economic Development Corporation)

City officials revealed a plan for a new entrance to Coney Island Beach during a Brooklyn Community Board 13 economic development committee meeting yesterday, the New York Post reported. [more]

From left: Coney Island boardwalk and Tom’s Restaurant in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

Tom’s Restaurant, the Prospect Heights, Brooklyn favorite has signed a lease for space on the Coney Island boardwalk with Zamperla USA, the Italian outfit in charge of re-vamping the boardwalk, the New York Daily News reported.

In a reversal, Zamperla is not just courting Brooklyn staples such as Tom’s, but asking long-time Coney Island mainstays Ruby’s Bar and Paul’s Daughter, who it had previously worked to evict, to stay put. Previously, the Coney Island operator had planned to cede control over boardwalk leasing to a Miami Beach hotel and restaurant group, which drew criticism from local businesses and residents. Tom’s, the Lola Star boutique, and the Coney Island Beach Shop all signed eight-year leases with Zamperla this past Friday, the News said.
[more]

From left: Ruby’s Bar and Grill and Paul’s Daughter

A handful of the beloved, longtime Coney Island boardwalk businesses expected to be shut down in favor of newer attractions at the end of the month got a surprise dose of new life. According to the New York Post, Ruby’s Bar and Grill and Paul’s Daughter are likely to be offered new leases by the same developer that gave them the boot.

The American arm of Italy-based Zamperla, which the Bloomberg administration has given a 10-year lease to improve the boardwalk, had tapped a Miami Beach to replace seven storefronts and operate four sit-down restaurants in a $5 million renovated rendition of the amusement strip. [more]

The city is moving forward with its plans to replace the wood from
most of Riegelmann’s Boardwalk in Coney Island with cement or a
synthetic material, the Brooklyn Paper reported. Once the Public
Design Commission approves the plan later this month, the New York
Department of Parks & Recreation plans to first replace the wood with
concrete on the Boardwalk between Coney Island Avenue and Brighton
15th Street in Brighton Beach. Eventually, the only section that would
remain wooden are four blocks between West 10th and West 15th streets. [more]

The Steeple Chase ride at Coney Island’s Scream Zone

Central Amusement International, the firm behind the redevelopment of the old Coney Island amusement park, has had two profitable years from the $25 million it spent to build Luna Park and Scream Zone, and plans to spend an additional $5 million to build up the final 60,000-square-foot lot it leased from the city by next summer, Crain’s reported. Central Amusement, a subsidiary of Italian ride manufacturer Zamperla, will also upgrade the Cyclone and much of the retail along the boardwalk, to the dismay of old-timers.
The firm pays $100,000 in rent to the city per year in a lease through 2020, and also relinquishes a percentage of its revenues to the city. [more]

The company that recently opened Coney Island’s new Luna Park and Scream Zone is one of 12 firms bidding to become the new operator of the Westchester County-owned Rye Playland, the New York Post reported. Zamperla subsidiary Central Amusement International’s $30 million proposal would include many popular Luna Park rides such as the Air Race, the Electro Spin and aerial-swinging Lynn’s Trapeze.  [more]

Top: the new Coney’s Cones; Bottom: the Coney Island Boardwalk

Ruby’s Bar and Grill, Cha Cha’s, Paul’s Daughter, Kris Greg’s Beer House, Gyro Corner, Beer Island, Coney Island Souvenirs: when the last traces of this summer season melt away, by the end of October, these down-trodden temples of high-caloric American capitalism, which line Coney Island’s famous Boardwalk between Luna Park and Deno’s Wonder Wheel, will pass away with them.
Last year, the seven concession areas negotiated a one-year reprieve from Zamperla, the Italian rides manufacturer and operator that is overseeing the transformation of Coney Island (their eighth cohort, Shoot the Freak, which completed the so-called “Coney Island Eight,” has already been razed). And when they vanish, the Boardwalk, as we have known it for the past half century or more, will be changed beyond recognition.
Already, however, as reported on NY1 Tuesday, a new eatery named Coney’s Cones is set to open on the Boardwalk, rising over the ghosts of the one concession that did not take the one-year extension. The new Coney’s Cones is nothing to write home about. [more]

Four Coney Island furniture shops rendered outliers when the city rezoned Surf Avenue two years ago are finally shutting down. According to the Brooklyn Paper, all four stores — Coney Island Furniture, Lago Furniture, Astroland Furniture and Home Décor on the Surf — put up signs this week advertising liquidation sales. The Bloomberg administration began requiring “entertainment-related retail” on the strip two years ago as part of its effort to transform Coney Island into a tourism mecca, and said last year that it would investigate whether that meant the furniture stores were illegal. [more]

John Catsimatidis and a rendering of the Coney Island proposal

As the CEO of the Gristedes supermarket chain John Catsimatidis ushers his “Ocean Dreams” proposal for the west end of the Coney Island boardwalk through public review, it’s becoming increasingly likely that he’ll market the development to middle-aged adults and seniors. According to the New York Post, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said the development, which calls for three towers ranging from 14 to 22 stories, would be most successful if it attracted residents over the age of 55. [more]