Coney Island Rumor Mill: No Rides But Games, Food & Merch Coming to Thor’s Lot

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Coney Island Rumor Mill: No Rides But Games, Food & Merch Coming to Thor’s Lot

January 22, 2015 by Tricia

Thor’s Coney Island: Aerial view of vacant lots on south side of the Bowery between W 12th and W 15th where amusements once thrived. July 7, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita

Today brought a new twist to the November rumor that an amusement park is coming to one of Thor Equities’ CEO Joe Sitt’s vacant lots in 2015. The latest from the Coney Island Rumor Mill is that there will be no rides (insert unhappy face emoticon) but about 20 trailers with games, food and merchandise. If true, the games would fulfill the “Use Group A” amusement component required by the zoning.

The location is in the heart of Coney Island adjacent to Luna Park’s Scream Zone and Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park. In recent years, this lot on the Bowery between Stillwell Avenue and West 12th Street has hosted failed flea markets and made a mockery of the rezoning in 2009 and 2011. “Festival by the Sea” and the “BK Festival” were granted City permits as a “temporary fair” because a flea market is not a permitted use on this property in Coney Island. A color coded map on Thor Equities’ website currently designates it as “Future Retailer/Entertainment Spaces.”

As a critic of flea markets on land where the Tornado roller coaster (1927-1977) and the Bobsled (1941-1974) once thrilled, we were happy to see the BK Festival and Thor Equities bring in rides, games and sideshows in 2012. Why not do it again?

Despite various amusement operators efforts to negotiate lease deals with Thor Equities in the past, the lots remained vacant last year as well as in 2010 and 2013, when the City issued a stop-work order on a permit for “temporary parking for the amusement district.”

Across the Bowery, Thor’s retail building is said to be the site of New York City’s first Wahlburgers –Donnie, Mark and Paul Wahlberg’s burger franchise– opening in May. There’s a vacant space on Stillwell next to the Brooklyn Nets store that was designed to house a restaurant. Rumor has it that is the location and it’s set to be revealed during the Wahlberg’s reality show on A & E.

Mozzarepa and other street fair food at Cha Cha’s Steeplechase Park on Thor’s Stillwell Avenue lot, June 23, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr