Fascinating Faber’s, the 50-year-old arcade that Thor Equities demolished last year, is rising from the dead — in another Thor Equities property. The Brooklyn Paper reported that Carlo Muraco, who has owned the arcade since the early 1990s, is subletting the first floor of space in a West 12th Street building owned by Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities. Joya Funding Group is leasing the space. Unlike the old location at Henderson’s Music Hall on Stillwell and Surf avenues, the new space will not display the famous “Faber’s Fascination” sign, but rather a vintage-styled “Faber’s Game World” sign. [more]

Red Apple Real Estate submitted a new proposal for developing 500,000 square feet of mixed-use space at the west end of the Coney Island boardwalk, according to the Architect’s Newspaper. The plan, which was slated to go before Community Board 13 today, calls for three residential towers ranging from 14 to 22 stories with a total of 400 market-rate condos above 25,000 square feet of retail and 400 parking spaces. Red Apple, led by John Catsimatidis of Gristedes supermarket fame, commissioned Dattner Architects as the lead designer for the project — but not before the city agrees to rezone the western edge of the boardwalk for the second time since 2005. [more]

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 III” have leased the dilapidated Grashorn Building, once in danger of demolition, from developer Thor Equities and plan 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. [more]

From left: Paul’s Daughter, Ruby’s Bar and Grill and Coney Island

Coney Island will welcome back seven retail veterans this summer, after a last-minute deal to keep the soon-to-be-booted businesses around for another season was signed today, according to NY1. The group of businesses, including two iconic eateries, Ruby’s Bar and Grill and Paul’s Daughter, will be able to extend their leases, which expired last November, for another year. Unfortunately for “Shoot the Freak,” the sideshow attraction that also saw its lease expire last autumn, the deal came too late — the carnival game has already been demolished. [NY1] [more]

The former Thunderbolt roller coaster on Coney Island, which was torn down in 2000

The vacant Coney Island site that for years housed the famed Thunderbolt roller coaster has come back on the market, and the city is interested in adding part of it to its growing amusement district, according to the Wall Street Journal. The three-acre lot, which is on West 16th Street across from the Brooklyn Cyclones’ MCU Park and is owned by Kansas Fried Chicken founder Horace Bullard, originally hit the market last year, but a buyer never emerged. Now, with the nearby Luna Park heading into its second season and Coney Island’s revitalization looking more like a reality, Bullard is trying his luck again. [more]

The Municipal Art Society of New York has released its top 11 initiatives for 2011, on which it plans to focus its advocacy and programming efforts this year. First on the list of priorities is completing the redevelopment of Moynihan Station and Hudson Yards, followed by the preserving the Garment District as an “ecosystem for the fashion industry,” crafting a plan for interim housing in case a natural disaster strikes the city and rethinking the future of public housing. Also on the list were NYU’s expansion, the next phase of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC and Coney Island. Click here for the full rundown. TRD [more]

The eight businesses fighting eviction from the Coney Island Boardwalk charged yesterday that amusement park operator Zamperla duped them into thinking they stood a chance at keeping their spots last year, when in reality the company had always planned to take over. According to the Daily News, the charges came yesterday as a court battle between the merchants — including Ruby’s Bar and Shoot the Freak — and Zamperla was postponed again. Attorney Marc Aronson, who is representing the merchants, called Zamperla’s promise to allow those who submitted good business plans to stay on the Boardwalk “a show and a sham… their mind was already made up.” [more]

Leases went out last week to two fast-food restaurants for space in a two-story commercial building to be built on the vacant lot next to Coney Island’s Stillwell Terminal, and rumor has it that Popeye’s Chicken will reopen there, according to the Amusing the Zillion blog. The new building, at 1223 Surf Avenue, will have 10,000 square feet on the first floor and 5,000 square feet on the second floor. Popeye’s owner began looking for space after getting pushed out of the Henderson Building by Thor Equities, where it had been located for 27 years. “We sent out leases for two spaces, both on the left side of the property,” said broker Joe Vitacco of Jacob Gold Realty. [more]

This year saw numerous New York City mainstays fall by the wayside, according to the blog Lost City, which named “Coney Island and New York’s Dive bars… the two biggest victims of this final year of the decade.” Among the fallen famed establishments was the Lower East Side’s Guss’ Pickles, which had been in its former spot at 85 Orchard Street near the corner of Broome Street since 1920, until rising rents forced it to move into Borough Park, Brooklyn. Other informal landmarks saying goodbye were 35-year Chelsea veteran, the Empire Diner, located at 210 10th Avenue between 22nd and 23rd streets, and Coney Island’s 107-year-old Shore Hotel. [Lost City]

After giving the boot to numerous Coney Island mainstays, like Ruby’s Bar & Grill and Shoot the Freak, Luna Park operator Zamperla said it’s angling to make the recreation haven a year-round attraction, according to City Limits Magazine. The move jives with city officials, who have long urged operators to move toward a 365-day operating schedule. But while bitter winter weather and the loss of seasonal veterans has soured some on the idea, some Coney advocates, like Juan Rivero of Save Coney Island, say the plan could be made a reality. [more]