Who’s afraid of Coney Island? Evidently, not iStar.
The real estate investment trust, led by Jay Sugarman, has filed a new building application to replace a parking lot with a 217,000-square-foot building along the Brooklyn neighborhood’s famous boardwalk. If approved, the 23-story development would put 282 apartments next to the Coney Island Amphitheater and a block from the Atlantic Ocean.
This isn’t iStar’s first ride around the Cyclone: It built the amphitheater, a 5,000-seat concert venue opened in 2016, with the city’s Economic Development Corporation and ticketing giant LiveNation, and remade the historic Child’s Building into a 135-unit supportive housing project.
The two Coney Island projects were part of a deal in which the city bought land from iStar for $61.4 million and then leased it back to the developer. The new apartment building will be built at 3027 West 21st Street, currently a parking lot across the street from the amphitheater.
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New York has spent years trying to draw more people to Coney Island, in part by restoring it to its 20th-century glory. In 2009, the Bloomberg administration — fending off a redevelopment plan from Thor Equities’ Joseph Sitt — rezoned 19 blocks in the neighborhood as an amusement and entertainment district. The plan aimed to create thousands of apartments and new rides. The de Blasio administration later spent tens of millions of dollars to rehab the area.
iStar’s developments have played a role in the rebuilding. Former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who hosted a long-running concert series in the neighborhood, jumped at the opportunity to build a true performing arts center. He routed about $50 million from his capital budget toward the deal with iStar.
To some extent, the efforts have paid off. Housing development has tripled in Coney Island since Superstorm Sandy decimated the neighborhood in 2012, The City reported.
Glass high-rises selling ocean views are now interspersed with the peninsula’s Housing Authority developments and Mitchell-Lama middle-income co-ops. The association of Coney Island with crime and poverty has faded, but its breathtaking beach and iconic boardwalk remain.
It is unclear whether iStar plans rentals or condominiums. iStar did not return a request for comment.