A soon-to-be-released plan for the redevelopment of Coney Island that is intended to restore the former seaside resort area to its place as the borough’s main attraction has sparked a real estate boom, say real estate agents and land owners.

A slew of undeveloped lots that have languished for much of the last three decades and structures that have long sat dormant have seen their values nearly double just in the last year.

From the barren, weed-strewn lot beside Keyspan Park to the former site of the famed Childs Restaurant, developers are betting on a revitalized Coney Island, particularly its C-7 amusement district. Members of the Coney Island Development Corporation (CIDC), the group charged with reinvigorating the area, expect to release a draft of their plans within months.

In the meantime, the neighborhood has seen the rebirth of summertime throngs with the success of Keyspan Park at West 17th Street between Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk, which draws thousands to see the short-season single-A Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team, as well as a brand new, grand subway hub at Stillwell Avenue that reopened in May.

Added to that has been the national attention and thousands of visitors who hit Coney island for the annual July 4 Nathan’s hot dog eating contest, the refurbishing of the old Parachute Jump, which may become the site of a pavilion, and plans to modernize the New York Aquarium.

But what really has property owners, speculators and potential developers licking their chops these days is the city-backed redevelopment plan, the details of which are expected to be released by this summer, although no exact date has been set.

Michael Harari, a broker with Massey Knakal Realty, a commercial and residential real estate firm, said that vacant lots in Coney Island have doubled in price since this time last year, with lots measuring 20 feet by 100 feet rising in value from about $250,000 to $450,000 now.

“Definitely, the level of activity has increased and the prices have jumped tremendously,” said Harari. “From a year ago until now the prices of vacant land has literally doubled.”

Despite the increased asking prices, said Harari, local and international developers are clamoring to fill old buildings with new entertainment and retail ventures. He said that besides an “Asian spa meditation” business that has expressed interest in waterfront property along the boardwalk, entertainment groups from Sweden and Norway are looking to convert the mammoth former Childs Restaurant building, a city landmark, into a nightclub or other hotspot.

That 25,400-square-foot building on the Boardwalk at West 21st Street, is on the market with an asking price of $7.9 million.

“It’s amazing how much people have heard about Brooklyn internationally,” said Harari, who estimated that his real estate company was currently marketing 10 properties in Coney Island valued at a combined $32 million. “Believe it or not, even though it has the government [public housing] projects and it’s been dormant for so long, it’s waterfront property that you really can’t replicate.”

While most of the renewed interest in Coney Island is focused on the amusement district, the urgency to invest in the neighborhood has spilled to more residential areas as well. Harari said a four-story apartment building with ground-floor commercial space at 1614 Mermaid Ave. recently fetched $800,000 and a trio of attached three-story apartments at 1411 Neptune Ave,, sold for $1.3 million. That in a neighborhood that for decades was besieged by drug dealing, prostitution and other crimes.

Among those looking to unload their properties, say real estate sources, is Hy Singer, chairman of the Kings County Republican Party, and Horace Bullard, who owns several large parcels in the amusement district. One source said that Singer had put at least five of his properties on the market within the last six months, including the building that houses Nathan’s Famous, at Surf and Stillwell avenues.

The addresses of those properties are: 3030-3068 Stillwell Ave., 1301-09 Boardwalk West, 1213-1221 Boardwalk West, 3057-3063 Henderson Walk and 1229 Boardwalk West.

Citing an illness in the family, Singer declined this week to answer questions about his Coney Island holdings, but said, “Yes, there are ongoing negotiations.”

Both Singer and Bullard’s holdings are among a slate of nearly 100 underutilized private and public lots within the confines of the Coney Island redevelopment area, defined by Neptune Avenue to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the south, Ocean Parkway to the east and West 37th Street to the west in which the CIDC aims to spark commercial and even residential interest.

The plan, headed by Davis Brody Bond, an architectural firm, and the accounting firm Ernst and Young hopes to pump new life into Coney Island.

“I think that once those plans come out, you’ll see guns blaring away,” said Bullard, a major property owner whose holdings include the site of the legendary Thunderbolt roller coaster, featured in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall,” which was ordered demolished by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani with the construction of Keyspan Park in 2000.

“Coney Island is a name known all over the world and you would spend millions of dollars to get that kind of recognition,” said Bullard. “There’s definitely a lot of interest right now.”

New parking garages, hotels and a ferry to Lower Manhattan are all expected to be included in the redevelopment plan, but many within the neighborhood’s amusement industry say they are most concerned with the future of more than 50 vacant lots.

“What is important is what develops on those lots and how the whole area looks in terms of drawing people in year round and whether there has to be incentives,” said Judi Orlando, executive director of the Astella Development Corporation, an advocate for the revitalization of Coney Island. Astella prepared its own study that includes parcel-by-parcel information on who owns what in Coney Island.

“Now everyone is looking at Coney Island and, for some right now, if you’re offered ‘X’ amount of dollars and you’re of a certain age, you might say, ‘Look, why shouldn’t I get this money?’”

Dennis Vourderis is among a small group of businessmen who aren’t planning to sell property but also have a vested interest in the vacant parcels that surround them.

As a co-owner of Deno’s Wonder Wheel, the amusement park icon that can be seen for miles, Vourderis said that neighboring land must remain zoned for roller coasters, arcades and the like. Earlier this month, he and other members of the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce met with the CIDC to stress that point, which, he said, was met with approval.

Vourderis, who runs the park with his brother, Steve, said that he envisions a modern roller coaster, much like those common at Six Flags or Disney World. The appeal of a ride like the 77-year-old Cyclone, another Coney Island icon, and one of the last wooden roller coasters in the nation, is historical. But a steel coaster, built perhaps where the Thunderbolt once stood, would reestablish the neighborhood’s legacy, he said.

“I would love to see the city install a $20 million, state-of-the-art roller coaster and offer an RFP for someone to operate it,” said Vourderis, whose family first established itself in Coney Island in the 1970s as hot dog vendors. “We don’t want to see [the amusement district] shrink anymore than it already has.”

originally published online here:

http://www.brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol28/28_11/28_11nets4.html