Coney Island is strongly behind developer Joe Sitt’s $1.5-billion plan to transform the rundown amusement area into a mini-Las Vegas — but a sizable minority does not want to see new housing be part of the mix.
In a telephone survey of 400 neighborhood residents, commissioned by Sitt, nearly 80 percent approve of his notion of turning the busy-in-summer, dead-in-winter neighborhood into a year-round attraction.
But a significant number — 38 percent — said they did not want the luxury housing that would help Sitt finance his project, which would include the rundown stretch of property between West 12th and West 15th streets that he already owns, plus the Astroland site he bought this week.
The plan includes four towers, two hotels, time-share condos and at least one apartment building that could rise up to 40 stories.
A spokesman for Sitt has said the condos, which are typically more lucrative than other kinds of development, will pay for the other attractions — a 150-foot water slide, the biggest new roller coaster in the city since the Cyclone, and a multilevel carousel.
“The problem with amusements is that they don’t make money,” said spokesman Lee Silberstein. “They are too expensive and too seasonal and that is part of the reason why we want to do residential.”
But some longtime neighborhood boosters are wary.
“We’ve been saying for years that we want to keep the amusements in Coney, not see it get turned into condos,” said Chuck Reichenthal, district manager for Community Board 13.
