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Displaced Queens Flea Vendors Eye Coney Island’s Vacant Lots

Posted in Real Estate, Redevelopment, tagged Aqueduct flea market, Coney Island, flea market, Thor Equities on December 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Tent Frames from Summer 2009's Failed Flea By The Sea. Thor Equities Vacant Lots at Stillwell in Coney Island. December 11, 2010. Photo © Jim McDonnell via smugmug

In 2011, Coney Island’s now decimated Stillwell Avenue will get a brand new amusement park called Scream Zone. Will its neighbor be one of the City’s largest flea markets? Coney Island is abuzz with the rumor that vendors from the popular Aqueduct Racetrack Flea Market, which has 1,000 vendors and lost its lease after 30 years, are collectively eyeing Thor Equities’ empty lots.

Sources tell ATZ that some of the vendors, who operate three days a week at the racetrack, were informed that negotiations were underway with Thor Equities to lease the property. When ATZ called Plain and Fancy Shows, the company that operates the flea, to confirm the story, the person who answered the phone denied any interest in coming to Coney Island. To be clear, the Coney Island Rumor Mill says it is not the operator, but individuals who helped manage the flea market and know how to run such a business, who are trying to put together the deal.

Fantasy Art: 2009 Poster for Thor Equities Failed Flea By The Sea. May 11, 2009. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The flea market folks are reportedly eyeing the lots on both sides of Stillwell formerly occupied by Thor’s failed Flea by the Sea. The skeletal frames of the tents have stood vacant since September 2009. The tenting became tattered and unsightly and was removed after numerous complaints. The asking price for the lease is rumored to be $300K for the season. Also said to be of interest to the flea market: The newly vacant lot at Surf Avenue and 12th Street, which was the site of the recently demolished Bank of Coney Island, across from Coney Island USA’s freak show. The corner of Surf and Stillwell, where the Shore Hotel was knocked down and the Henderson Building is currently being demolished. ATZ was told that the organizers of the new flea would place vendors of like items together to drive traffic to each location. Clothing, beauty products, household items and collectibles are among the categories of products.

Joe Sitt's Abandoned Flea By the Sea in Coney Island. October 15, 2010. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The lots remained vacant last season after Thor Equities failed to come to an agreement to lease the property to a number of amusement operators, including a fair producer from Tennessee. ATZ learned that some of the same amusement operators are still interested in bringing in rides, games and shows. The main hurdle to a deal is said to be Thor’s insistence on a one-year lease. One amusement operator told ATZ that he needs a two-year deal to make a profit.

In the Summer of 2009, Thor’s so-called Festival By the Sea (aka Flea by the Sea) was billed as “A Uniquely Entertaining and Amusing Flea Market in Coney Island.” In order to get a DOB permit for a “temporary fair” after the “flea market” was denied, Thor promised “tons of fun” and tried to recruit strolling entertainers via craigslist. But the only entertainment we recall seeing was a clown making balloon toys and bands playing a couple of sets on weekends.

Thor Equities Flea Market. May 22, 2009. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The Queens flea market has to leave the Aqueduct Race Track in Ozone Park after more than 30 years because of construction of a video slot casino. Around this time of year, vendors get tickets with their location number for next year’s flea market, which would have opened in March, after taking off January and February. Instead they got the news that December would be their last month.

According to an article in last Thursday’s New York Times, Betty Braton, the chairwoman of the Ozone Park neighborhood’s Community Board 10, said: “The casino operation is an attempt to go upscale, and a flea market is by nature sort of downscale. We’re looking forward to the economic development that is going to come from the casino operation.”

Would the Bloomberg administration, whose plan for the revitalization of Coney Island includes allowing Mom & Pop businesses to be evicted from City-owned property on the Boardwalk to make way for upscale eateries, approve a permit for a flea market? It is after all made up of hundreds of Mom & Pops. We’ll see. Or maybe we won’t.

If a flea market or amusement rides (or some combination of the two) are going to be Scream Zone’s neighbors on Stillwell in 2011, the biggest challenge will be signing a lease agreement with Thor Equities. When Joe Sitt acquired the property in 2006, he promptly evicted the batting cages, go karts and miniature golf, and turned Stillwell into what blogger Bob Guskind of Gowanus Lounge called “Thor Equities Corridors of Blight.” Alas, not much has changed on Stillwell since Bob wrote those words in May 2007.

We were not amused by auto supplies at Thor Equities Flea Market in Coney Island. May 31, 2009. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i 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

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).