Joe Sitt | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Joe Sitt’

Photo Album: Joe Sitt’s Bulldozer Crushes Henderson Building

Posted in Demolition, Photo Album, tagged Coney Island Redevelopment, Eric Kowalsky, Henderson Music Hall, Joe Sitt, Thor Equities on January 6, 2011| 13 Comments »

Thor Equities Demolition of the Henderson Building. January 5, 2010. Photo © Eric Kowalsky

Coney Island photographer Eric Kowalsky, who documented the demolition of the Bank of Coney Island in November, has eloquently captured the destruction-in-progress of the historic Henderson Music Hall in this series of images.

Eric put his camera through the gate on Henderson Walk to take the above photo of the crushed remains of part of the Henderson Building formerly occupied by Faber’s Fascination. “They took the front and side of the building down. The Bowery is still standing,” he said this morning.

Thor Equities Demolition of the Henderson Building. January 5, 2010. Photo © Eric Kowalsky

Last week we posted historian Charles Denson’s video tribute to the Henderson Theater. As we previously noted, the City aided and abetted Joey “Bulldozer” Sitt by rezoning the Henderson parcel for a high rise hotel. There are however no immediate plans to build a hotel on the site. 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 building.

Thor Equities Demolition of the Henderson Building. January 5, 2010. Photo © Eric Kowalsky

The Henderson Building is the first sight you see on Surf Avenue when you step out of Stillwell Terminal. It is at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues. We should probably use the past tense, though the demolition is still underway. The first sight you see when you step out of Stillwell will soon be another empty lot to add to Joe Sitt’s collection of empty lots.

Thor Equities Demolition of the Henderson Building. January 5, 2010. Photo © Eric Kowalsky

Video: Tribute to the Henderson Theater by Charles Denson

Posted in video, tagged Charles Denson, demolition, Henderson Building, Joe Sitt, Thor Equities on December 27, 2010| 2 Comments »

Historian Charles Denson‘s video tribute to Coney Island’s historic Henderson Music Hall is beautifully done and, of course, heartbreaking. In addition to rare archival material, the video features an unexpected recent look inside the building, which is currently under demolition.

Denson’s interior shots reveal what remains of the Velocity Nightclub on the building’s second floor. This performance space was exquisitely restored and brought up to code in 2004, before Thor Equities bought the building and began to blight it. The footage shows the space to be in surprisingly good condition and repudiates what Thor Equities CEO Joe Sitt told NY1 in May: “Every one of these buildings is just horrible, rundown relics with nothing exciting about them. I hate to say it, but the great buildings of Coney Island disappeared 80 years ago.”

Last time we wrote about Thor’s demolitions, readers asked: Why wasn’t this building saved? The City aided and abetted Joey “Bulldozer” Sitt by rezoning the Henderson parcel for a high rise hotel. 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 building.

Photo of the Day: R.I.P. Bank of Coney Island

Posted in Photo of the Day, Real Estate, tagged Bank of Coney Island, demolition, Eric Kowalsky, Joe Sitt, Redevelopment, Thor Equities on November 24, 2010| 4 Comments »

Demolition of Thor Equities-Owned Bank of Coney Island. November 23, 2010. Photo © Eric Kowalsky

R.I.P. Bank of Coney Island (1923-2010)

Eternal memory. Eternal memory. Grant to this demolished piece of Coney Island history, O Lord, blessed repose and eternal memory.

Thanks again to Eric Kowalsky for his excellent photo documentation of the Bank of Coney Island. For more info on the building, see “Photo of the Day: The Bank of Coney Island, Now & Then” (ATZ, October 14, 2010) and “A Rare Peek Inside Endangered Old Bank of Coney Island” (ATZ, October 9, 2009).