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May 4: Speak up to Landmark the Coney Island Boardwalk

Posted in Uncategorized on May 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

First Snow. December 26, 2010. Photo © Bruce Handy via flickr

Dear friends, if you truly love Coney Island, then get yourself to City Hall on Wednesday, May 4th, to speak up to landmark the Boardwalk. Stay away and we’ll be forever damned to walk the Coney Island Concretewalk. Fail to show up and the patterns of freshly fallen snow on the slatted boards will one day exist only in archival photographs.

The City Council’s Land Use Committee is meeting at 11 AM to hear testimony on Coney Island Councilman Mark Treyger’s resolution calling for the boardwalk to be designated a scenic landmark. In February, 48 City Council Members, as well as Public Advocate Letitia James, signed on to the resolution, yet the Landmarks Preservation Commission remains silent. If it were not for Treyger’s tireless efforts on behalf of the boardwalk, this issue would have vanished from the public eye.

The City’s other scenic landmarks and dates of designation are Morningside Park (2008), Fort Tryon Park (1983) Bryant Park (1974), Central Park (1974), Riverside Park and Riverside Drive (1980), Verdi Square (1975), Eastern Parkway (1978), Grand Army Plaza (1974), Ocean Parkway (1975) and Prospect Park (1975). Doesn’t Coney Island’s world-famous boardwalk deserve to be among this illustrious company? May 15 is the 93rd anniversary of the Riegelmann Boardwalk’s official opening. See you tomorrow at City Hall and let’s make it a celebration.

Purge Breakout Experience Coming to Thor’s Coney Island For Weekend

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Coney Island, escape game, Haunted House, Purge Breakout, The Purge, Thor Equities on June 12, 2014| 2 Comments »

Purge Breakout Experience in Coney Island, June 12, 2014. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr

One of Thor’s vacant lots in Coney Island is actually getting an entertainment attraction if only for a three day run. “Purge Breakout: An Immersive Escape Experience” is opening on Friday the 13th and staying through Sunday. Traveling through the U.S. this summer, the escape game/haunted house offers fans of the film franchise “The Purge” an opportunity to step inside the world created by Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions. The trailer trucks housing the attraction pulled onto the lot behind Nathan’s yesterday and are setting up.

On the plus side, the attraction will bring people to Coney Island who purchased the $20 timed tickets in advance and are likely to spend money on food, drinks and rides afterwards. If you’re just finding out about it, the tickets are already sold out!

Can we do this again next month for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

Thor’s Coney Island: Weekend Work for Hazmat Men

Posted in historic preservation, Real Estate, Uncategorized, tagged Coney Island Rezoning, demolition, Grashorn Building, Henry Grashorn, oldest building, Surf Avenue, Thor Equities on December 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Guys in Hazmat suits doing interior demo work at Thor Equities-owned building at 1106 Surf Ave, December 7, 2013. Photo by Anonymouse via Amusing the Zillion

On Saturday, we were alarmed to receive a call about men in hazmat suits starting interior demolition on Thor Equities-owned Grashorn, Coney Island’s oldest building. Asked by a pedestrian if there was danger, a worker replied they were doing demolition. The work continued through the weekend. A dumpster in front of the building filled up with sheetrock, ductwork insulation, and mattresses. There are no permits posted, nor are there any work permits on the DOB website for the buildings at 1102-1106 Surf Avenue. Anonymous tipsters sent us these photos.

Last month ATZ posted “Rumor Mill Says Coney’s Oldest Building To be Demolished” (ATZ, November 15, 2013). Was the Rumor Mill right? As it turns out, the demo crew was working next door to the Grashorn building where Henry Grashorn’s hardware store was in the 1880s. They are doing interior demo in the neighboring space that was G. Grashorn’s Groceries. The buildings also housed the Grashorn family’s hotel but due to alterations to the facade were not considered eligible for landmarking by the City’s Landmark’s Commission.

Thor Equities-owned buildings on Surf Ave, December 7, 2013. Photo by Anonymouse via Amusing the Zillion

We’ll look into the matter of the permits this week. In the past, there’s been a lag on updates to the DOB site. In 2010, Thor’s teardown of the Henderson Music Hall caught people by surprise as the asbestos abatement that preceded the demo got underway. Also without any permits posted, it should be noted.

The storefronts at 1106 Surf Avenue are newly vacant, having been occupied by Gameworld arcade, a pina colada stand and other concessions for the past four seasons. The neighboring Grashorn building at 1102-1104 Surf Avenue, which also has frontage on Jones Walk, has been vacant since 2008 as ATZ reported in “The New Coney Island: A Tale of Two Jones Walks” (ATZ, Sept. 2, 2013).

The Grashorn no longer has a C of O after having been gutted, though it looked great as the Susquehanna Hat Company in an episode of HBO’s Bored to Death in 2011. Save Coney Island has published renderings showing the potential of the building if restored. Henry Grashorn was a founding director of the Bank of Coney Island, the Mardi Gras Association and the Coney Island Church and Rescue Home. His hardware store catered to Coney Island’s amusement businesses for six decades and the building later housed shooting galleries, arcades, and cotton candy and taffy stands.

Dumpster at Thor Equities Building on Surf Ave, Coney Island. December 7, 2013. Photo by Anonymouse via Amusing the Zillion

In addition to the Henderson, Thor CEO Joe Sitt demolished two other historic Surf Avenue properties–the Bank of Coney Island and the Shore Hotel in 2010, after his lots on the south side of Surf were rezoned by the city for 30 story hotels. Only the buildings that once housed the Grashorn hardware and grocery store remain. If Coney Island’s oldest is going down to become another empty lot to add to Joe Sitt’s collection of empty lots in Coney Island, it won’t happen unnoticed. We promise to make a lot of noise.

Thor Equities purchased the Grashorn (1102-1104 Surf Ave.) for $1.4 million in 2005 and the adjacent building at 1106 for $2.2 million in 2006, according to Property Shark.

UPDATE December 9, 2013:

Sources say the FDNY inspected the building last week and the property owner was fined and required to clean the fire hazard caused by squatters. Squatters have been living there since at least 2010. It takes the FDNY to get Thor to maintain their property and keep it safe? The public cannot access the FDNY’s database but has to put in a request for a search which takes 10 days and costs 10 bucks. Betcha 20 we’ll have more info from the Rumor Mill sooner than that!