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Amid Demolitions & Evictions in Coney Island, City Landmarks Shore Theater

Posted in historic preservation, tagged Coney Island, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Shore Theater on December 14, 2010| 5 Comments »

The Shore Theater, formerly the Loew's Coney Island, is up for City landmark designation. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The Shore Theater, formerly the Loews Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

On December 14, the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission will designate the Shore Theater an official New York City Landmark, according to the website of the Municipal Art Society. We applaud the landmarking, which is long overdue. The designation will help rescue the building, which has been vacant and neglected for 35 years. But the timing of the announcement, just as the demolitions and evictions of much of old Coney Island are in the news, including the Op-Ed page of the New York Times, strikes us as a little too coincidental. It’s as if the City is saying, hey look over here, we’re saving Coney Island!

Five years ago, the 1925 Shore Theater, formerly the Loew’s Coney Island, and five other historic buildings were nominated for New York City landmark designation by Coney Island USA. But the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission dragged its feet and would not calendar any of the buildings until February 2010, months after Coney Island had been rezoned. Of the nominated buildings, only two–the Childs Restaurant (owned by CIUSA) and the Shore Theater (owned by Horace Bullard)– were considered worthy of landmark designation. The Shore Hotel was demolished on Friday and the Henderson Building is next on Thor Equities hit list. The doomed buildings were on parcels rezoned for high rise hotels.

As for the Shore Theater, we would not be surprised if the City ended up acquiring the building. At the Community Board’s public hearing on the Coney Island rezoning, there was a proposal to revive the Shore as a community center. When the LPC held a public hearing on the landmark designation in March 2010, ATZ noted…

The Shore’s history as a year-round entertainment venue fits in with the Bloomberg administration’s long-term plan to revitalize Coney Island as a year-round destination.

Sources tell ATZ that the City has been trying to buy Bullard’s Coney Island properties or negotiate a land swap. We have also heard rumors of a “blight” taking of the Shore Theater based on the fact that the property owner has done nothing with the building for 25 years. In fact, the Shore has been vacant for over 35 years! Bullard’s acrimonious relationship with the City dates back to the Giuliani administration, when the Mayor killed his plans to build a new Steeplechase Park and illegally demolished the Thunderbolt roller coaster.

The day before the LPC’s calendaring of the Shore Theater in February, Bullard was served with a violation from the Department of Buildings. The caps are the DOB’s: “FAILURE TO FILE AN ACCEPTABLE SIXTH ROUND TECHNICAL FACADE REPORT.” Cycle 6 ended February 20, 2010. Chunks of the facade are falling off.

If the building is landmarked, Demolition by Neglect laws could come into play. The New York City demolition by neglect ordinance states, “every [owner] of a landmark site or historic district shall keep in good repair (1) all of the exterior portions of such improvement and (2) all interior portions thereof which, if not so maintained, may cause or tend to cause the exterior portions of such improvement to deteriorate, decay or become damaged or otherwise to fell into a state of disrepair.” NEW YORK, N.Y., CODE § 25-311 (2001).

Last year, in a precedent setting lawsuit, the City was awarded $1.1 million in civil penalties and gave the owners of the landmarked Windermere apartments a choice of fixing the property or selling it. “This settlement sends a message to owners of landmarked buildings that they must keep them in a state of good repair,” said Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission in a New York City Law Department press release about the case. “Buildings like the Windermere are an indispensable part of New York City’s architectural heritage and must be preserved for future generations.”

Coney Island Theatre Building. Photo © katherine of chicago via flickr

R.I.P Coney Island’s Shore Hotel, Henderson Next on Hit List

Posted in Demolition, Photography, tagged Coney Island, Eric Kowalsky, Henderson Music Hall, Lindsay Wengler, Shore Hotel, Thor Equities on December 13, 2010| 1 Comment »

Demolition of Thor Equities-Owned Shore Hotel, Coney Island. December 10, 2010. Photo © Eric Kowalsky

Coney Island’s Shore Hotel was built circa 1903 and demolished by Thor Equities on December 10, 2010. It took only a couple of days for the demo men to take down the century-old wood frame building. There’s nothing left but a pile of sticks to be hauled away. Vanishing New York’s post from August 2009, which we linked to on Friday could serve as its epitaph.

In the post-demolition photo below taken on Saturday, Surf Avenue looks like a dowager with a tooth knocked out. Demolition is also underway at the Henderson Building, seen on the right hand side of the photo. The buildings on the left–the Eldorado Bumper Cars and the Popper Building–are NOT owned by Thor Equities and are NOT endangered.

View of Surf Avenue after the Demolition of the Shore Hotel. December 11, 2010. Photo by Anonymouse

Last week photographer Lindsay Wengler took this photo of workers putting demolition scaffolding to the top of the former Henderson Music Hall. The building, which is at the corner of Surf and Stillwell across from Nathan’s, is next on Thor’s hit list of historic properties. You can see more pix from the set on the photoblog Single Linds Reflex.

Demolition Scaffolding at Thor-Owned Henderson Building. December 9, 2010. Photo © Lindsay Wengler/Single Linds Reflex via flickr

UPDATE… Why Weren’t These Buildings Saved?

We’ve received a few emails asking why these historic buildings were not saved. The short answer is these Thor-owned properties were rezoned for high-rise hotels by the City in July 2009. The long answer is the effort to save these buildings goes back to 2004, when Coney Island USA received a grant from the JM Kaplan Fund to “protect the legacy of old Coney Island” and nominated six buildings for landmark designation. But the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission dragged its feet and would not calendar any of the buildings until 2010, months after the lots had been rezoned. Of the nominated buildings, only two–the Childs Restaurant (owned by CIUSA) and the Shore Theater (owned by Horace Bullard)– are under consideration for landmark designation.

The Municipal Art Society had the Shore Hotel and the Henderson Building on their list of seven to save in Coney Island when MAS testified at a City Planning hearing on the rezoning in May 2009. Among the other structures identified by Coney Island USA, MAS and Save Coney Island were Nathan’s Famous, Childs Restaurant (CIUSA Building), the Grashorn Building, the Bank of Coney Island and the Shore Theater. “Under the NYC Landmarks Law, structures can be designated as landmarks for architectural, historical and cultural reasons,” said MAS’s Lisa Kersavage in her testimony. “Although some of these structures have been altered over the years, their ties to the legendary Coney Island of the past gives them a cultural significance that should be recognized and protected.” The City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission denied landmark designation and also declined to create a historic district, which would have created tax incentives to rehab the buildings.

After the Demolition of the Bank Building, Coney Island. December 9, 2010. Photo © Lindsay Wengler/Single Linds Reflex via flickr

Video: Alberto Zamperla Talks Luna Park Coney Island

Posted in Interviews, video, tagged Alberto Zamperla, Coney Island, Luna Park, Parskmania on December 13, 2010| 2 Comments »

Parksmania, the premier Italian news portal for amusement and theme parks, interviewed Alberto Zamperla about Luna Park Coney Island at the Euro Attractions Show in Rome on October 6-8, 2010. Since the conversation is in Italian, ATZ asked a friend to translate Zamperla’s remarks.

Parksmania’s YouTube video also has footage of Luna Park’s rides in action and a “virtual tour” of the park. At the beginning of the vid, you’ll catch a glimpse of Zamperla’s rendering of the future Luna Restaurant’s hot pink facade and blue awnings.

As ATZ reported earlier this month, the $1.4 million dollar restaurant is currently under construction at Surf Avenue and 10th Street and will be operated by corporate giant Sodexo, which will also run some of the food concessions on the Boardwalk. Luna Park Coney Island, which has 18 Zamperla rides plus a Reverchon water flume, opened on Memorial Day Weekend 2010.

Here’s a translation of what Alberto Zamperla, president and CEO of Antonio Zamperla S.p.A, had to say in the interview with Parksmania…

It’s always been my dream to create a whole amusement park with only Zamperla-attractions. To do this in New York, where the great amusement park of Coney Island opened over 100 years ago, and to become part of this magnificent history, is among the best experiences I had in my life.

We have opened 19 new attractions, we employed 210 persons, we received 200 inspections from the Building Department. This shows the logistic excellence of Zamperla, which even Bloomberg recognized. He himself couldn’t believe that we were able to realize all this in only 100 days. We showed an incredible organizing ability.

We have had 400.000 visitors, 25% more than expected. We opened the park the very day we completed the construction works.

We conquered the trust of the NYC Municipality, so much that in the coming years we’ll expand the park. Next year we’ll create a “thrill zone” with “adrenalinic” rides for the youngsters, including a roller coaster.

The trust was so great that they entrusted us with the refurbishment of the whole boardwalk, so that we will also take over the management of the gastronomic activities.

ATZ thanks Alessandro Busà, the editor of Urban Reinventors, for translating the audio. His paper Rezoning Coney Island (pdf) can be downloaded via the website of Hunter College Dept of Urban Affairs & Planning.