Joe Sitt

Say Goodbye to St. Clair Diner, Hinsch's

After 92 years of business, Greek diner St. Clair has closed in Brooklyn. Brownstoner reported that the dive on the corner of Smith Street and Atlantic Avenue closed last week, and now the windows are covered in paper -- never a good sign. According to Grub Street, developer Joe Sitt bought the bui ... More >>

Open & Closed: Say Hello to The Darby; Goodbye to Marfa

Restaurants and bars, they come and they go. Here are a few making their debuts and bowing out this week. Cooper 35 Asian Pub, known for its $3 cocktails, will be torn down in the coming months to make room for a new Joe Sitt high-rise. [NYU News via Grub Street] CB Holding Corp. has filed for Cha ... More >>

Coney Island's Grand Past and Grim Future

Requiem for a dreamland

Actual Honest-to-God New Rides Coming to Coney in May, New Coasters in 2011

Photo by Neil deMause​In what's becoming a bit of a Coney Island tradition, City Hall officials shlepped out to Brooklyn in a slushstorm today to make the long-rumored announcement that the Italian firm Zamperla has been tapped to open a new amusement park in Coney to replace the dearly depart ... More >>

Sitt, City Close Coney Island Deal: About 7 Acres for Us, $95.6 Million for Him

​Developer Joe Sitt and his Thor Equitiies closed that deal with the city they set up in November that gives New York 6.9 acres of beachfront property and Sitt $95.6 million which, as Neil de Mause earlier reported, means he's already made back his investment and still has six acres of Coney t ... More >>

City Buys Sitt Land, But Coney Future Still Hazy

​ It was, Mayor Bloomberg said more than once, "a day people probably thought never would arrive." After more than a year of negotiations and at least one false positive, the mayor and developer Joe Sitt took to the Blue Room podium today to announce that Sitt's Thor Equities has agreed to sel ... More >>

City to Buy 7 Acres of Coney Boardwalk Property from Sitt

It's long been assumed that developer Joe Sitt, who's been letting his vast holdings in Coney Island go all to hell, has been holding out for the best price he can get from the city, which has repeatedly shown interest in buying it. Today, a breakthough: it's reported that New York will pay $95.6 ... More >>

Citi Field Crumbling, Cyclones' Attendance Fall Bring Perverse Comfort to Mets Fans

The New York Post says Citi Field is falling apart: "Huge signs have collapsed, outfield drains have clogged and there are numerous faulty air-conditioning systems and electrical outlets." Also Jerry Seinfeld's luxury box was flooded and is riddled with mold, so it's an ill wind etc. And the Mets' ... More >>

In Interview, Bloomberg Praises Gehry, Approves Parking Tickets

That Bloomberg interview referred to in yesterday's papers is out now in the Brooklyn Paper. In it, the Mayor continues to defend the Atlantic Yards project against what he calls "this small group of people" who oppose it, and to pine after the Frank Gehry design that might have been. With a modish ... More >>

Live! Coney Island Council Vote!

​ Photo (cc) MapDork. Against all odds, there's actually working (sort of) WiFi in the city council chamber, so I'm going to attempt to liveblog today's final vote on the city's Coney Island rezoning plan. The council's land use committee gave its preliminary blessing last week, so the last ... More >>

Freak Show Man Will Sue Over Puppy's Amputated Fifth Leg; Demands Reattachment

The amputation of that five-legged puppy's fifth leg has not ended her usefulness to Coney freak show manager John Strong, who says he had a deal to buy and exhibit the monstrosity but saw his dream crumble when a nice lady bought the puppy instead, named it Lily, and had a vet remove the extraneous ... More >>

Council Caves on Coney; Sitt-to-City Deal Still in Works?

Photo (cc) Spuz. The way things are going, the never-ending Coney Island rezoning process is going to have more "final hearings" than Astroland had last days. Originally scheduled to meet last week to weigh in on the shape of Coney's future, the city council's land use committee instead repeatedl ... More >>

Joe Sitt Weeps for Coney; Land Use Committee Considers Plan Tomorrow

We are grateful to Brownstoner for tipping us to the Crain's New York Business article on Coney Island developer Joe Sitt, his habit of buying up city properties and flipping them for profits, and his attempts to do the same with his Coney holdings, though he tells Crain's (with tears in his eyes!) ... More >>

Coney Island Update: Preservationists Protest, Sitt Professes Love for Astrotower

This week the Save Coney Island crew gave a City Hall press conference to protest the proposed shrinkage of Coney's 60 acres of amusement to 12. ("When properly programmed, 12 acres is a sufficient space," says the New York City Economic Development Corporation.) They brought the usual suspects, in ... More >>

Coney's Giant Rat Stays In Out of the Rain

Joe Sitt's much-hyped Festival By The Sea, famed of story and subway ads, was supposed to have its grand opening this weekend, but it was called on account of rain. Or alleged rain: Total precipitation for Friday and Saturday was less than a tenth of an inch, so skeptics will be forgiven for wonderi ... More >>

Ruby's Bar on Coney Opens on Easter

Ruby's, the big old boardwalk bar at Coney Island, its walls lined with photos of vintage Coney scenes, its jukebox stocked with vintage tunes, and its men's room graced by a vintage bog, will open on Easter Sunday. There was some question of it closing down -- Ruby's has had some trouble with the a ... More >>

Coney: New Dig, Times Dis, Cyclone Opens Sunday

Kinetic Carnival looks at Joe Sitt's big dig at Stillwell Avenue and the Boardwalk at Coney Island and wonders what's up. Captain Nemo's readers speculate: new supports for the Boardwalk? Tents? A "Dream Land Amusement Park" is announced by lamppost sign for part of the blighted property. Gowanus' ... More >>

Circus Coming to Coney Island?

Coney Community Board Votes Yes to Rezoning Plan, No to Plan's Actual Details

Photo by Neil deMause It took four years, but the fate of Coney Island's future finally began the deliberative phase tonight, with a meeting of Brooklyn's Community Board 13 in the packed, sweltering auditorium of Coney Island Hospital to vote on the rezoning plan put forward last April by the Bloom ... More >>

Coney Fans Offer New Plans

image (cc) Mark Kehoe A petting zoo for cloned animals? A giant apple orchard? A freak show with yuppies in a cage? Some futuristic-looking NeoGothic towers? When a group of people gathered in Our Lady of Solace Church on Mermaid Avenue last night to discuss the future of Coney Island, the lines ... More >>

Thor Equities Not Done Ruining Coney Island

Having turned the swaths of Coney Island under his control into wreckage, Thor Equities developer Joe Sitt is gunning for more: now he's offering $91 million for the three acres upon which the Thunderbolt ride sits. (The Post story contains the fun fact that the 'Bolt is owned by the guy who also ow ... More >>

Astroland Going, Going...

Astroland, 1962-2008

Au Revoir, Coney Island

Astroland Lease Renewal Going Down to Wire. . . Again

"Save Coney" Protestors Rain on City's Beach-Opening Parade

Locals Fear City Will Destroy Coney Island In Order To Save It

Coney Est Mort, Vive Coney!

Bloomberg's Coney Gambit Leaves Thor Up Sitt Creek

Brooklyn Residents Chant 'Save Our Neighborhood, Yo'

Astroland Looking Like History

Last Ride at Astroland

Rally Sunday to Save Astroland

Labor Day Pains

Will this be the winter of Coney's discontent?

Will City Land Swap Make Coney Squabble Vanish?

Hot Dog With Relish

Cyclones put Markowitz on a bobblehead doll. Now he'll pop up even more.

Thor Throws a Coney Island Curveball

On the Outs in Brooklyn

The city's complicity behind the borough's soaring eviction rate

Sitt Hits the Fans: When Coney Gets Tough, the Going Gets Weird

Coney Island's Last Ride? The Bulldozer!

Behind the scenes, a scary game of chicken between the city and a developer who dreams of high-rise condos that won't amuse you