City buys Wonder Wheel site at Coney Island

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

New York City has bought the one-acre site of the Wonder Wheel for $11 million as part of the Bloomberg administration’s plan to preserve the historic character of Coney Island, the city announced on Wednesday. The city said that it expected to acquire additional land from local owners in the coming months.

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Astroland

Hmmm...I wonder if the City also has its eye on the Astroland site, to buy that from Thor, thus creating a contiguous zone from the Cyclone on down...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I wondered that one and even suggested that they do so...Maybe some kind of land swap deal can be had with Thor. My thoughts are the larger the tract of land the more that can actually be done with it. I didnt realize that the area of Deno's Wonder Wheel amusement park was only 1 acre. It seemed larger than that to me. I am sure as the city buys smaller parcels from some of the independent owners the area will grow. I have to wonder if there is any possibility of getting the parachute tower actually working again. I just maybe tempted to go back if the city continues to buy up the parcels in order to keep it aligned with amusement parks.

***spelling error corrected***

Last edited by beast7369,

Zero G Thrills

personally i think that once the city buys up the rest of what Thor doesn't own it should go pull out the Eminent Domain Laws and give Thor "Fair Market Value" for the land it does own.

Amusement park enthusiasm aside, this is why I like Bloomberg. He's not afraid to do what's best for the city, and I think this move is in NYC's best interest. Wish this guy was running for President.

From an article I saw last night, it looks like they didn't buy the actual Wonder Wheel land, but the land the rest of Deno's sits on. Unlike the land under the wheel itself, Deno's didn't own that but leased it.

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