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Thor’s Coney Island: Little Caesars Pizza, Dummy Arcades

Posted in Amusement Game, Coney Island Redevelopment, Food, tagged arcade, Chain restaurant, franchise, Little Caesars Pizza, pizza, retail building, Thor Equities, zoning on June 3, 2014| 1 Comment »

Little Caesars $5 Pizza at Thor’s Retail Building at Surf and Stillwell. May 31, 2014. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr

The latest chain to put its name on the glittering marquee of Thor Equities building in the new Coney Island is Little Caesars Pizza. Over Memorial Day Weekend, there was a cart selling Little Caesars “Hot-n-Ready” $5.00 pizzas in front of Thor’s building at Surf and Stillwell. The price was right and they sold out. Afterwards, signs remained taped to the outside of the window advertising the food franchise. We wondered if it was a tryout by a franchisee or guerrilla marketing. The official sign for “Little Caesars Express” went up last week. The Detroit-based Little Caesars is the nation’s third largest pizza chain with over 35 locations in New York City. It joins Applebee’s, Dunkin Donuts, Subway, Rita’s Italian Ice, It’Sugar and Rainbow Shops in making Surf and Stillwell a new mecca for chains and franchises.

What’s up with the vacant “ARCADE” next door? According to the Coney Island Rumor Mill, an arcade operator has agreed to fill the building’s two dummy arcades with games but paperwork issues are delaying the deal. No surprise there. Making a mockery of the zoning laws, the designated “arcades” have remained vacant ever since the building’s first tenant, Miami candy chain It’Sugar, opened last year. The 2009 Coney Island Rezoning requires the building to have a percentage of amusements equal to the square footage allocated for the arcades. If something other than amusements went into the space, the building’s C of O would be in jeopardy.

Why doesn’t Thor CEO Joe Sitt just throw some arcade machines in the “arcades” and open them up to the public instead of taking advantage of what appears to be a loophole in the zoning law that allows the spaces to remain vacant? Based on Sitt’s eviction of amusements from his property (“Thor’s Coney Island: What Stillwell Looked Like Before Joe Sitt,” ATZ, March 3, 2010), it’s our opinion that he’s not in any hurry to replace them.

The zoning states that “At least 15 percent of the Stillwell Avenue and West 10th Street street frontage of any zoning lot shall be occupied by Use Group A1 uses at the ground floor level.” Use Group “A1″ includes amusement arcades as well as open booths with games of skill or chance, such as water racing and shooting galleries, which used to occupy the spot in the demolished Henderson Building where the Brooklyn Nets Shop is now.

Subway Cafe to Replace Furniture Store on Coney Island’s Surf Ave

Posted in Food, Food & Drink, Real Estate, Redevelopment, tagged Chain restaurant, Coney Island, franchise, Joe Vitacco, north side of Surf, Subway Cafe, Subway Restaurant, Surf Avenue on September 11, 2013| 4 Comments »

1,700 sq foot Subway Cafe with Tuscany-style interior coming to this building at 1019 Surf Avenue. Photo © Tricia Vita

Last year ATZ asked “Will Coney Island’s Surf Ave Become a Mecca for Franchises?” (December 19, 2012). The latest in a slew of chains and franchisees betting on the new, year-round Coney Island is a Subway Cafe with a “Tuscany-style interior” featuring sofas and a fireplace. Broker Joe Vitacco signed a lease yesterday with the restaurant chain for the 1,700 square foot cafe at 1019 Surf Avenue across the street from Luna Park.

Just how pricey is Coney Island’s Surf Avenue? The building at 1019-1039 Surf was purchased for $3.1 million by 1019 Surf Ave Acquisition LLC in March for $3.1 million, according to Property Shark. Vitacco says the buyer was Russian multi-millionaire Yakov Yakubov, who also owns Loehmann’s Plaza in Brooklyn.

First introduced as a restaurant concept in 2008, the Subway Cafe’s decor and layout aim for a “coffeehouse ambiance” and is a little larger than an average Subway. The north side of Surf Avenue already has a Subway, located down the street in Stillwell Terminal, but it does not sell coffee. In addition to Subway sandwiches, the new cafe’s expanded menu includes baked goods, dessert items and coffee offerings. Part sandwich shop, part coffee bar, the Subway Cafe will be operated by franchisees with its lease held by the Subway Restaurant chain. They will take possession of a portion of the storefront occupied by the 11,000 square foot Lago Furniture. The furniture shop is on a month-to-month lease while tenants are sought for the rest of the space, Vitacco said.

Interior of one of the Subway Restaurant Chain’s Subway Cafes. The concept debuted in 2011

The furniture shops on the north side of Surf have long been in violation of the C-7 amusement zoning and are gradually being replaced by restaurants and bars. Dunkin’ Donuts (also in Stillwell Terminal), Coney Island Bar & Grill (formerly Bratva), Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, and Applebee’s will be joined next year on the north side of Surf by Johnny Rockets and Red Mango and Subway Cafe. As we noted last year, rides and amusement businesses aren’t about to make a comeback due to the skyrocketing rents since the rezoning. “I’m getting more inquiries than ever before,” said Vitacco, who would like to bring a seafood and steak restaurant to the neighborhood. “It means that people are thinking about it. But I call half the people I talk to tourists.”

Until the early 1980′s the north side of Surf Avenue was home to individually-owned penny arcades and a variety of rides including bumper cars, carousels and even a Jumbo Jet-style coaster. Philips Candy Store, now located in Staten Island, was the anchor of Stillwell Terminal from 1930 until 2000 when the terminal was rebuilt and they had to move out. By the time the last ride– Coney Island’s B & B Carousell —closed in 2005, the north side was known as the wrong side of Surf Avenue to locate a business because of the lack of foot traffic.

UPDATE January 29, 2015:

After post-Sandy construction delays, Subway Cafe finally has their sign up and is set to open a year-and-a-half after signing a lease

Sky Rapids Ride at 1223 Surf Avenue and Arcade at 1217 Surf Ave. Coney Island. January 1, 1979. Photo by Abe Feinstein via Coney Island History Project