The former Thunderbolt roller coaster on Coney Island, which was torn down in 2000
The vacant Coney Island site that for years housed the famed Thunderbolt roller coaster has come back on the market, and the city is interested in adding part of it to its growing amusement district, according to the Wall Street Journal. The three-acre lot, which is on West 16th Street across from the Brooklyn Cyclones’ MCU Park and is owned by Kansas Fried Chicken founder Horace Bullard, originally hit the market last year, but a buyer never emerged. Now, with the nearby Luna Park heading into its second season and Coney Island’s revitalization looking more like a reality, Bullard is trying his luck again. The old home of the wooden Thunderbolt, which was featured in “Annie Hall” and shuttered in 1982, has street frontage on Surf Avenue. Its northern portion was rezoned in 2009 to allow for retail and a 32-story hotel, while the southern portion is zoned for amusement park space. City officials told the Journal that they have been in preliminary discussions with Bullard about expanding its amusement park area into the southern portion of his site as part of a land swap involving a city-owned Strip On West 15th Street. Robert Danker of Prime Manhattan Residential is marketing the lot on Bullard’s behalf and said he expects it to sell for between $75 million and $90 million. [WSJ]