Looks like the B&B Carousell have been saved

http://ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=9&aid=52654

August 09, 2005

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to make a major announcement at Coney Island Tuesday, and sources say it might be about his plans to buy the Coney
Island Carousel.

The historic B & B Carousel is off the auction block, but its fate remains unclear.

The city has been trying to buy the carousel in an attempt to keep it from being sold to another city.

Last week the city reportedly increased its offer to more than $1 million, but the president of the auction house hired to oversee the sale said the city's bid was still too low, adding the carousel could be worth up to $3 million.

The mayor's announcement is scheduled to take place at Coney Island's Surf Avenue, where the carousel has stood since 1932.

The carousel was expected to go on auction Wednesday. It was shut down in May after the owners decided to sell it.

Well that's good news. I assume the plan, if the City buys it is to keep it at Coney Island?

On the chance that the City doesn't buy it, what are the chances of it getting sold intact and not broken up? Are there other interested parties who want to buy the machine whole?

Excellent news, Jim! ;)

The auction house wishes it was worth 3 mil. That's what they told McCullough. That's how they landed the contract. Norton told the bank that took over the machine that I handled that he could get $850,000 for it no problem. Problem was he didn't, nowhere near that. Mine was just a year out of a complete mechanical overhaul. The B&B machine, to coin a phrase, has been rode hard and put away wet. The days of auction houses parting out these machines and making huge comissions is over. There is a glut of figures on the market that are not selling. Does Gurnsey's guarantee that they'll bring in 3 million? Of course not! A million is more than fair for that machine, considering it's going to take at least another half mil to bring it up to where it should be. Mr. McCullough, take the city's offer, it's a bird in the hand. Much better than Gurnseys' several birds in the bush.