http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/coney-island-rides-again/
February 16, 2010, 5:45 pm
Coney Island Rides Again
By NATASHA LENNARD
Courtesy NYC Economic Development Corp. A somewhat abstractified rendering of the future Luna Park.
Coney Island’s iconic Cyclone roller coaster sat dormant under a thick layer of snow Tuesday afternoon. The Boardwalk was silent but for the distant crash of waves.
But down a few blocks from the midway at the New York Aquarium, against a backdrop of tropical fish, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was proclaiming Coney Island’s renaissance.
The mayor unveiled plans for a new, year-round amusement park featuring 23 rides, the first 19 of which are planned to open by Memorial Day.
“Coney Island remains one of the most known and beloved neighborhoods around the world, but for decades its famed amusement park has dwindled to just a tiny fraction of what it once was,” the mayor said. “This summer, we’re reversing that trend.”
By the end of May, the amusement park operator Central Amusement International will open “Luna Park at Coney Island,” featuring 19 new rides that the company’s representative, David Galst, promised would “flip you, launch you, drop you and splash you.”
Courtesy New York Public Library The original Luna Park, in 1908.
The new Luna Park will inevitably be measured against the original, which opened in 1903, closed in the 1940s and stood for all that was grand and magical on the city’s southern shore. The mayor said that the new park would evoke Coney Island’s past as much as create a state-of-the-art amusement park, which, by summer 2011, is to expand to include four more rides.
In recent years, Coney Island’s long, gradual decline has accelerated, as the developer Joseph J. Sitt bought land with bold plans to reshape the midway but was unable to bring them to fruition.
It was not until the city – after hard-fought negotiations – paid $95.6 million for 6.9 acres of Mr. Sitt’s land last November that the current plan to restore Coney Island began to take shape.
C.A.I. announced that it would continue to lease city-owned parcels of land – totaling 6.2 acres – for 10 years and promised to invest $30 million to build and operate the park. The project will create 330 jobs, many of which, according to the park operator, will be filled by local residents.
Alongside the expanded amusement park, the city’s Coney Island Revitalization Plan will create a mixed-use neighborhood with retail options and nearly 5,000 units of housing – 900 units of which will be income-targeted. In total, the plan is expected to generate more than $14 billion in economic activity for New York City over 30 years.
Both the mayor and C.A.I. stressed that Coney Island’s historic legacy would be of paramount concern, and that well-loved landmark rides would remain protected. Deno Vourderis, whose family owns The Wonder Wheel – a Coney Island mainstay since 1920, expressed delight at Tuesday’s announcement.
“We’ve been part of Coney Island since the dark ages,” he said. “We’re ecstatic.”
In celebration of Luna Park’s opening, Shmaltz Brewing Company has even introduced a new Luna Park-themed Coney Island Lager. And, like a metaphor for the area’s coming renovation and preservation, the beer has a new label, but the grinning freak on the bottle remains.
