City Council to weigh $53M Coney Island ampitheater project

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s $53 million plan to transform the empty Childs Restaurant building in Coney Island into a 5,000-seat amphitheater is heading to City Council for review.

The local community board rejected the proposal in September, in favor of allocating $35 million in public funds for Hurricane Sandy repairs instead, though the vote is non-binding. The City Council is slated to discuss it Dec. 16.

“Coney Island cannot become a year-round destination, with jobs and economic opportunity for its residents, without infrastructure and transportation improvements,” incoming Council member Mark Treyger told the New York Daily News.

Markowitz, the main proponent, is on his way out as borough president, so any postponement of a Council decision into next year could scrap the project altogether.

Under the plan, the city would buy the building at 1208 Surf Avenue and an adjacent lot from real estate investment firm iStar Financial. The amphitheater would hold an extra 2,000 people on a lawn, and host up to 40 concerts between May and October. [NYDN] — Mark Maurer