A rendering of the ferris wheel in Staten Island

Private investors will spend nearly $1 billion over the next decade into transforming Staten Island’s North Shore from a sleepy outpost into a bustling urban center, the New York Times reported. Among the projects in the pipeline are the world’s tallest Ferris wheel, an outlet mall and a 200-room hotel. A major residential complex by Ironstate Development is set to break ground in June in the Stapleton neighborhood near the Staten Island Ferry terminal.  [more]

Staten Island

Staten Island homeowners who have struggled in the five months since Hurricane Sandy to get federal disaster assistance are being urged to be patient just a little longer: Help, their city councilman told them, is on the way.

The weary homeowners heard the plea Saturday at a real estate forum, where city officials along with building and financial experts laid out options for relocation, federally subsidized mortgages, short sales and reconstruction as well as new FEMA construction guidelines for the borough.  [more]

A portion of Con Edison’s outage map

Powerful gusts of wind and lashing rain that wreaked havoc in the city early Thursday morning have left 5,000 customers without power, DNAinfo reported. The storm, according to Con Edison, sent trees crashing into power lines and interrupted service in parts of Queens and Staten Island. A spokesman for the company said that at one point, over 1,200 Staten Islanders and 1,184 Queens residents were without power. Con Edison’s outage map shows that Richmond Hill was most impacted by the storm, with over 1,419 customers losing power. The numbers, the spokesman added, could yet fluctuate, and repair crews had been dispatched…. [more]

Sandy damage on Staten Island

The United States Army Corps of Engineers has begun the process of demolishing city properties that were damaged by Hurricane Sandy in late October, the New York Times reported. It all began yesterday with the demolition of an Oakwood, Staten Island home; loud crunches of an excavator slamming down on the home’s roof could be heard. [more]

Rendering of the Staten Island outlets

Staten Island has taken the lead in the race for New York City’s first outlet shopping mall. After weeks of talks with the Bloomberg administration, BFC partners announced it officially signed a deal to develop a hotel and outlet mall, Harbor Commons, that will have up to 350,000 square feet of retail and 120,000 square feet for a 200-room hotel in St. George, Staten Island.

The complex will include a 1,250 parking garage and will be next door to the Richmond County Ballpark, home of the Staten Island Yankees. The first outlet in New York City, Harbor Commons will include roughly 100 designer outlets in addition to restaurants and cafes, BFC Partners said. [more]

From left: St. George ferry terminal in Staten Island and a lighthouse

Proponents of a National Lighthouse Museum, proposed for the St. George ferry terminal on Staten Island, are fundraising with the hope of opening doors in May 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported. For now, the group behind the museum says that it needs to raise $1 million to pilot operations and to cover expenses for the first year. [more]

From left: the exterior of 354 Front Street and construction underway inside (credit: Alexis Herrera)

Stateboarding aficionados are in luck. The city’s very first indoor skate park, is scheduled to open on Staten Island July 7, DNAinfo reported. Located at 354 Front Street in Stapleton, 5050 Skatepark, will occupy a space that formerly housed a furniture store.

The 35,000-square-foot property will come replete with rails, ramps and an obstacle course for skateboarders, freestyle bicyclists, rollerbladers and even scooter riders, DNAinfo said. [more]

The Staten Island Ferry Terminal and the London Eye

A plan to boost tourism on Staten Island could result in the world’s largest Ferris Wheel next to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, the Staten Island Advance reported. The New York City Economic Development Corp. is currently in negotiations with developer Plaza Capital Group Management to build the 600-foot “observation wheel” it proposed last year. The EDC had put out a request for expressions of interest for multiple projects meant to develop 14 acres of city-owned waterfront property in the borough. [more]

Aerial shot of the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility

New York State’s Empire State Development is looking to redevelop the recently shuttered Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island, the Daily News reported.

As The Real Deal previously reported this past summer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo closed seven prisons across the state, two of which were in New York City, to accommodate his state budget. Arthur Kill, located at 2911 Arthur Kill Road in the Tottenville/Great Kills section of Staten Island, was a medium-security prison that closed in late 2011. [more]

New Jersey-based charity Kars 4 Kids lost almost as much money in failed real estate investments in 2010 as it actually spent on programs for children. According to NBC New York, the charity lost $2.5 million investing in an outlet mall project near Outerbridge Crossing on Staten Island and another $2.3 million related to a pair of failed condominiums in Jersey City called View I and View II. An additional $500,000 was lost on a real estate investment in Israel. [more]