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Maybe the NY Wheel isn’t dead after all
Development team plans to hire American Bridge Company as new builder
Don’t give up on seeing a Ferris wheel come to Staten Island just yet.
Although the New York Wheel project has faced scores of issues over the past few years, culminating with the development team firing its contractor Mammoet-Starneth LLC in July, the team is now planning to hire a new company to finish off the project, according to the Staten Island Advance.
Developers are in advanced negotiations with American Bridge Company, the firm that built the Las Vegas High Roller Ferris wheel, to finish building the 630-foot project in St. George.
The New York Wheel team recently fired Mammoet-Starneth over claims that the company was failing to meet several work deadlines. Workers are currently planning to remove Mammoet-Starneth’s cranes from the work site, indicating that negotiations with American Bridge Company are fairly far along, but there is still no specific date for when they plan to sign a contract or start working on the wheel.
The cost of the wheel has increased massively since its inception. In 2011, developers estimated it would cost only $250 million, but it has since skyrocketed up to roughly $600 million. A spokesperson for the project told the Advance that about $400 million worth of work has been done so far.
Experts previously told The Real Deal that the firing of Mammoet-Starneth could be disastrous for the New York Wheel’s EB-5 investors, but the development team maintained that the project has already created thousands of qualifying jobs under the visa program. [Staten Island Advance] – Eddie Small