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 * History of Coney Island
 * Coney Island

Coney Island is a residential and commercial neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Coney Island's name comes from colonial Dutch "Conyne Eylandt" which translates as "Rabbit Island". It was originally part of the colonial town of Gravesend.

By the mid-19th century, Coney Island had become a seaside resort, and by the late 19th century, amusement parks had also been built at the location. The attractions reached a historical peak during the first half of the 20th century. However, they declined in popularity after World War II, and following years of neglect, several structures were torn down.

Various redevelopment projects were proposed for Coney Island in the 1970s through the 2000s, though most of these were not carried out. The area was revitalized with the opening of MCU Park in 2001 and several amusement rides in the 2010s.

Early settlement
Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European explorer to discover the island of Narrioch during his expeditions to the area in 1527 and 1529. He was subsequently followed by Henry Hudson. The Dutch established the colony of New Amsterdam in present-day Coney Island in the early 17th century. The Native American population in the area dwindled as the Dutch settlement grew and the entire southwest section of present-day Brooklyn was purchased in 1645 from the Native Americans in exchange for a gun, a blanket, and a kettle.

In 1644, a colonist named Guysbert Op Dyck was given a patent for 88 acres of land in the town of Gravesend, on the southwestern shore of Brooklyn. The patent included Conyne Island, an island just off the southwestern shore of the town of Gravesend, as well as Conyne Hook, a peninsula just east of the island. At the time, both were part of Gravesend. East of Conyne Hook was the largest section of island called Gysbert's, Guysbert's, or Guisbert's Island (also called Johnson Island), containing most of the arable land and extending east through today's Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach. This was officially the first official real estate transaction for the island. Op Dyck never occupied his patent, and in 1661 he sold it off to Dick De Wolf. The land's new owner banned Gravesend residents from using Guisbert's Island and built a salt-works on the land, provoking outrage among Gravesend livestock herders. New Amsterdam was transferred to the English in 1664, and four years later, the English Governor created a new charter for Gravesend that excluded Coney Island. Subsequently, Guisbert's Island was divided into plots meted out to several dozen settlers. However, in 1685, the island became part of Gravesend again as a result of a new charter with the Native Americans.



At the time of European settlement, the land that makes up the present-day Coney Island was divided across several separate islands. All of these islands were part of the outer barrier on the southern shore of Long Island, and their land areas and boundaries changed frequently. Only the westernmost island was called Coney Island; it currently makes up part of Sea Gate. At the time, it was a 1.25-mile shifting sandspit with a detached island at its western end extending into Lower New York Bay. In a 1679–1680 journal, Jasper Danckaerts and Peter Sluyter noted that "Conijnen Eylandt" was fully separated from the rest of Brooklyn. The explorers observed that "Nobody lives upon it, but it is used in winter for keeping cattle, horses, oxen, hogs and others."

By the early 18th century, the town of Gravesend was periodically granting seven-year-long leases to freeholders, who would then have the exclusive use of Coney Hook and Coney Island. In 1734, a road to Coney Hook was laid out. Thomas Stillwell, a prominent Gravesend resident who was the freeholder for Coney Island and Coney Hook at the time, proposed to build a ditch through Coney Hook so it would be easier for his cattle to graze. He convinced several friends in the nearby town of Jamaica to help him in this effort, telling them that the creation of such a ditch would allow them to ship goods from Jamaica Bay to New York Harbor without having to venture out into the ocean. In 1750, the "Jamaica Ditch" was dug through Coney Hook from Brown's Creek in the west to Hubbard's Creek in the east. The creation of the canal turned Coney Hook into a detached 0.5 mi island called Pine Island, so named due to the woods on it.

Each island was separated by an inlet that could only be crossed at low tide. By the end of the 18th century, the ongoing shifting of sand along the barrier islands had closed up the inlets to the point that residents began filling them in and joining them as one island. Development of Coney Island was slow until the 19th century due to land disputes, the American Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. Coney Island was so remote that Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick on the island in 1849, and Henry Clay and Daniel Webster discussed the Missouri Compromise at the island the next year.

Resort development


In 1824, the Gravesend and Coney Island Road and Bridge Company built the first bridge across Jamaica Ditch (by now known as Coney Island Creek), connecting the island with the mainland. The company also built a shell road across the island to the beaches. In 1829, the company also built the first hotel on the island: the Coney Island House, near present day Sea Gate.

Due to Coney Island's proximity to Manhattan and other boroughs, and its simultaneous relative distance from the city of Brooklyn to provide the illusion of a proper vacation, it began attracting vacationers in the 1830s and 1840s, assisted by carriage roads and steamship service that reduced travel time from a formerly half-day journey to two hours. Most of the vacationers were wealthy and went by carriage. Inventor Samuel Colt built an observation tower on the peninsula in 1845, but he abandoned the project soon after. In 1847, the middle class started going to Coney Island upon the introduction of a ferry line to Norton's Point—named after hotel owner Michael Norton—at the western portion of the peninsula. Gang activity started as well, with one 1870s writer noting that going to Coney Island could result in losing money and even lives. The Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad became the first railroad to reach Coney Island when it opened in 1864, and it was completed in 1867. Over the next 13 years, four more railroads to be built specifically to transport visitors to Coney Island.

In 1868, William A. Engeman built a resort in the area. The resort was given the name "Brighton Beach" in 1878 by Henry C. Murphy and a group of businessmen, who chose to name as an allusion to the English resort city of Brighton. With the help of Gravesend's surveyor William Stillwell, Engeman acquired all 39 lots for the relatively low cost of $20,000. This 460 by hotel, with rooms for up to 5,000 people nightly and meals for up to 20,000 people daily, was close to the then-rundown western Coney Island, so it was mostly the upper middle class that went to this hotel. The 400 ft, double-decker Brighton Beach Bathing Pavilion was also built nearby and opened in 1878, with the capacity for 1,200 bathers. "Hotel Brighton", also known as the "Brighton Beach Hotel", was situated on the beach at what is now the foot of Coney Island Avenue. The Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Coney Island Railway, the predecessor to the New York City Subway's present-day Brighton Line, opened on July 2, 1878, and provided access to the hotel.

Simultaneously, wealthy banker August Corbin was developing adjacent Manhattan Beach after being interested in the area during a trip to the beach to heal his sick son. Corbin, who worked on Wall Street and had many railroad investments, built the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway for his two luxury shoreline hotels. These hotels were used by the wealthy upper class, who would not go to Brighton Beach because of its proximity to Coney Island. The 150-room Manhattan Beach Hotel—which was designed by J. Pickering Putnam and contained restaurants, ballrooms, and shops—was opened for business in July 1877 at a ceremony presided over by President Ulysses S. Grant. The similarly prodigal Oriental Hotel, which hosted rooms for wealthy families staying for extended periods, was opened in August 1880.

Andrew R. Culver, president of the Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad, had built a steam railway to West Brighton, the Culver Line, before Corbin and Engeman had even built their railroads. For 35 cents, one could ride the Prospect Park & Coney Island Railroad to the Culver Depot terminal at Surf Avenue. Across the street from the terminal, the 300 ft Iron Tower (also known as the Centennial Observartory), bought from the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition, provided patrons with a bird's-eye view of the coast. The nearby "Camera Obscura" similarly used mirrors and lens to provide a panoramic view of the area. Coney Island became a major resort destination after the Civil War as excursion railroads and the Coney Island & Brooklyn Railroad streetcar line reached the area in the 1860s and 1870s, followed by the Iron Steamboat Company ferry to Manhattan in 1881.



The 150-suite Cable Hotel was built nearby in 1875. Next to it, on a 12 acre piece of land leased by James Voorhies, maitre d' Paul Bauer built the western peninsula's largest hotel, which opened in 1876. By the turn of the century, Victorian hotels, private bathhouses, and vaudeville theaters were a common sight on Coney island. The three resort areas—Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach and West Brighton—competed with each other for clientele. By the early 1900s, West Brighton had gradually become the most popular destination, and as such, became associated with the lively amusement area of Coney Island.

In the 1890s, Norton's Point on the western side of Coney Island was developed into Sea Gate, a gated summer community that catered mainly to the wealthy. A private yacht carried visitors directly from the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan Island. Notable tenants within the community included the Atlantic Yacht Club, which built a colonial style house along the waterfront.

Theme park era
Between about 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the United States, attracting several million visitors per year. Its development as an amusement area was concurrent with the erection of urban amusement parks elsewhere in the United States, which changed amusement from a passive to an active concept. Of these amusement areas, Coney Island was the largest. At its height, it contained three competing major amusement parks—Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park—as well as many independent amusements. The area was also the center of new technological events, with electric lights, roller coasters, and baby incubators among the innovations at Coney Island in the 1900s. By the first decade of the 20th century, Coney Island was seen as a top getaway and "a symbol of Americans' increasing pride".

19th century


By the late 1870s, Coney Island's hotels had drawn people from a wide variety of social classes, and attractions started to be built. When the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company electrified the steam railroads and connected Brooklyn to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge at the beginning of the 20th century, Coney Island turned rapidly from a resort to an accessible location for day-trippers seeking to escape the summer heat in New York City's tenements. Charles I. D. Looff, a Danish woodcarver, built the first carousel and amusement ride at Coney Island in 1876, at Lucy Vandeveer's bath-house complex at West 6th Street and Surf Avenue. Looff personally hand-carved the designs into the carousel. Looff subsequently commissioned another carousel at Feltman's Ocean Pavilion in 1880. Another early attraction was the Seaside Aquarium, which operated from 1877 to 1887 and included aquatic exhibits, aviaries, zoo attractions, and various sideshows. The earliest rides, including Looff's first carousel and the Seaside Aquarium, were located at the Centennial Observatory's site. The first sideshows and fireworks displays came to Coney Island in 1883, and combined with constant musical performances, brought increased excitement to the area.

The very first roller coaster at Coney Island was the Switchback Railway, a gravity coaster installed by LaMarcus Adna Thompson at West 10th Street in 1884. Nearby was the Elephantine Colossus, a seven-story building (including a brothel) in the shape of an elephant, which opened the following year. Until its demolition in 1896, the elephant was the first sight to greet immigrants arriving in New York, who would see it before they saw the Statue of Liberty. Next to be developed were horse-racing tracks, and by 1890, Coney Island had three tracks: Sheepshead Bay Race Track, Brighton Beach Race Course, and Gravesend Race Track. However, crime and corruption in Coney Island were prevalent. The main leader of this corruption was John Y. McKane, who ran prizefighting rings behind the elephant until he was arrested and sentenced in 1894.

The development of amusement rides in Coney Island intensified in the 1890s with the opening of amusement parks. The first such park was the Sea Lion Park, which opened in 1895 and continued operating until 1902, and was the first amusement park to charge entry fees. The Sea Lion Park's opening spurred the construction of George C. Tilyou's Steeplechase Park, which opened in 1897. The Coney Island "Funny Face" logo, which is still extant, dates to the early days of Steeplechase Park.



20th century


The first decade of the 20th century saw two more large amusement parks. Luna Park opened in 1903 on the site of the old Sea Lion Park, which had closed the previous year. The park's flagship was A Trip to the Moon, an attraction based off Jules Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon, which had previously been located at Steeplechase Park. The following year saw the opening of Dreamland, which reproduced many attractions at Luna Park, but at a grander scale, with a large central tower and one million electric lights. Additionally, the City of New York made efforts to condemn all buildings and piers built south of Surf Avenue in an effort to reclaim the beach and create a boardwalk, though the local amusement community opposed the move. Eventually a settlement was reached where the beach did not begin until 1000 ft south of Surf Avenue, the territory marked by a city-owned boardwalk, while the city would demolish any structures that had been built over public streets, to reclaim beach access.

In 1915, the Sea Beach Line was upgraded to a subway line, followed by the other former excursion roads, and the opening of the Stillwell Avenue station in 1919 ushered in Coney Island's busiest era. On the busiest summer days, over a million people would travel to Coney Island. This created tensions between longtime New York City residents and more recent immigrants who liked to patronize Coney Island. One of the entrepreneurs who took advantage of the increased visitor counts was Nathan Handwerker, who in 1916 started selling hot dogs at Coney Island for a nickel each, and eventually expanded his enterprise into the Nathan's Famous hot dog chain.

Coney Island's development as an amusement area continued through the end of World War II. The opening of the Wonder Wheel in 1920; the Riegelmann Boardwalk in 1923; the Shore Theater in 1925; several roller coasters in the 1920s including the Tornado, Thunderbolt, and Coney Island Cyclone; and the Parachute Jump in 1941 contributed to the area's quality as an amusement destination. In particular, the Riegelmann Boardwalk enabled the crowds to be dispersed away from Surf Avenue, the main west-east avenue in the area. Despite staff shortages during World War II, Coney Island retained its popularity and was frequented by military personnel.

However, the era was also marked by frequent fires, and those at the beginning of the 20th century were particularly destructive. A 1907 fire at Steeplechase Park  resulted in the park having to be completely rebuilt. Dreamland burned down in 1911 and was never rebuilt. One of the largest conflagrations at Coney Island, which occurred in 1932, left at least a thousand people homeless.

The 20th century also saw the filling-in of a portion of the 3 mi Coney Island Creek, thereby connecting Coney Island to the rest of Brooklyn. In the previous decades, there had been plans to dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal, which were later abandoned. By 1924, local land owners and the city had filled a portion of the creek. A major section of the creek was further filled in to allow construction of the Belt Parkway in the 1930s, and the western and eastern ends of the island became peninsulas. More fill was added in 1962 during the construction of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

Robert Moses era


In 1937, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses published a report about the possible redevelopment of Coney Island, as well as the Rockaway and the South Beach of Staten Island. Moses wrote of Coney Island, "There is no use bemoaning the end of the old Coney Island fabled in song and story. The important thing is not to proceed in the mistaken belief that it can be revived." He further wrote that the boardwalk should be redeveloped, and that old buildings should be demolished to make way for parking facilities. As part of Moses's plan, a 0.67 mi segment of the Coney Island beach would be rebuilt at a cost of $3.5 million. This was originally rejected as being too expensive. In August 1938, Moses submitted a plan to expand the Coney Island beach by 18 acre using shorefront from Brighton Beach. The next year, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia endorsed Moses's revised plan to redevelop Coney Island as a city-operated park area, unifying all the discrete resorts under public control. The reconstruction of the Coney Island boardwalk could be achieved by purchasing a 400 ft strip of land along the shoreline, which would allow the boardwalk to be moved 300 ft inland. At this point, Coney Island was so crowded on summer weekends that Moses observed that a coffin would provide more space per person. Though ride construction was delayed due to material shortages caused by the onset of World War II, two new rides were constructed in 1946 at the end of the war.

In August 1944, Luna Park was severely damaged by a fire that burned half of the park. Two years later, in August 1946, it was closed permanently and sold to a company who announced they were going to tear down what was left of Luna Park and build Quonset huts for military veterans and their families. Moses asked the city to transfer Luna Park's land along the Coney Island waterfront to the Parks Department. The city granted him that request in 1949. Moses then had the land rezoned for residential use, with a stipulation that the complex must include low-income housing. He ultimately planned for "about a third" of attractions along Surf Avenue, one block north of the beach, to be demolished and replaced with housing. Moses moved the boardwalk back from the beach several yards, demolishing many structures, including the city's municipal bath house. He would later demolish several blocks of amusements as well. He claimed that fewer amusement-seekers were going to Coney Island every year, because they preferred places where they could bathe outdoors, such as Jones Beach State Park on Long Island, rather than the "mechanical gadget" attractions of Coney Island. Moses also announced that the Steeplechase Pier would be closed for a year so it could be renovated.



In 1953, Moses proposed that most of the peninsula be rezoned for various uses, claiming that it would be an "upgrade" over the various business and unrestricted zones that existed at the time. Steeplechase Park would be allowed to remain open, but much of the shorefront amusements and concessions would be replaced by residential developments. After many complaints from the public and from concession operators, the Estimate Board reinstated the area between West 22nd and West Eighth Streets as an amusement-only zone, with the zone extending 200 to 400 ft inland from the shoreline. Moses's subsequent proposal to extend the Coney Island boardwalk east to Manhattan Beach was denied in 1955. A proposal to make the Quonset hut development into a permanent housing structure was also rejected.

A new building for the New York Aquarium was approved for construction in the neighborhood in 1953. Construction started on the aquarium in 1954. The development of the new New York Aquarium was expected to revitalize Coney Island. By 1955, the area still included four children's amusement areas, five roller coasters, several flat and dark rides, and various other attractions such as the Wonder Wheel. The New York Aquarium's new site opened in June 1957. At this point, there were still several dozens of rides on Coney Island.

Fred Trump era
During the summers of 1964 and 1965, there was a large decrease in the number of visitors to Coney Island because of the 1964/1965 World's Fair at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens. Crime increases, insufficient parking facilities, bad weather, and the post-World War II automotive boom were also cited as contributing factors in the visitor decrease. During the summer of 1964, concessionaires saw their lowest profits in a quarter-century. Ride operators reported that they had 30% to 90% fewer visitors in 1964 compared to the previous year.

In 1964, Coney Island's last remaining large theme park, Steeplechase Park, was closed and subsequently demolished. The surrounding blocks were filled with amusement rides and concessions that were closed or about to close. The rides at Steeplechase Park were auctioned off, and the property was sold to developer Fred Trump, the father of developer and U.S. president Donald Trump. In 1965, Fred Trump announced that he wanted to build luxury apartments on the old Steeplechase property. At the time, residential developments on Coney Island in general were being built at a rapid rate. The peninsula, which had 34,000 residents in 1961, was expected to have more than double that number by the end of 1964. Many of the new residents moved into middle-income co-operative housing developments such as Trump Village, Warbasse Houses, and Luna Park Apartments; these replaced what The New York Times described as "a rundown sprawl of rickety houses". Developers were spending millions of dollars on new housing developments, and by 1966, the peninsula housed almost 100,000 people.

Trump destroyed Steeplechase Park's Pavilion of Fun during a highly publicized ceremony in September 1966. In its stead, Trump proposed building a 160 ft enclosed dome with recreational facilities and a convention center, a plan which was supported by Brooklyn borough president Abe Stark. That summer, developers tried to revitalize the Coney Island boardwalk as an amusement area. In October 1966, the city announced its plans to acquire the 125 acre of the former Steeplechase Park so that the land could be reserved for recreational use. Although residents supported the city's action, Trump called the city's proposal "wasteful". In January 1968, New York City parks commissioner August Heckscher II proposed that the New York state government build an "open-space" state park on the Steeplechase site, and that May, the New York City Board of Estimate voted in favor of funding to buy the land from Trump. Condemnation of the site started in 1969. The city ultimately purchased the proposed park's site for $4 million, with partial funding from the federal government. As a condition of the deal, the sale or lease of the future parkland required permission from the New York State Legislature, thus blocking Trump from developing the site as apartments.

Trump filed a series of court cases related to the proposed residential rezoning, and ultimately won a $1.3 million judgment. The Steeplechase Park site laid empty for several years. Trump started subleasing the property to Norman Kaufman, who ran a small collection of fairground amusements on a corner of the site, calling his amusement park "Steeplechase Park". The city also leased the boardwalk and parking lot sites at extremely low rates, which resulted in a $1 million loss of revenue over the following seven years. Since the city wanted to build the state park on the site of Kaufman's Steeplechase Park, it attempted to evict him by refusing to grant a lease extension.

Late-1970s attempts at restoration


The 1970s brought along further renewal plans, such as proposals to construct public housing. However, it was beset by social issues such as high crime and a drug epidemic. By 1975, the city was considering demolishing the Coney Island Cyclone in favor of an extension of the adjacent New York Aquarium. The Aquarium supported the Cyclone's demolition, while the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce opposed it. After a refurbishment by Astroland, the Cyclone reopened for the summer 1975 season. The abandoned Parachute Jump was left in situ. However, in 1977, the New York City Board of Estimate declined a proposal to grant landmark status to the attraction, as it intended to tear down the Parachute Jump. In the meanwhile, Coney Island was still affected by a perception of crime and deterioration of old rides, but by the mid-1970s, middle-class families started returning to Coney Island. This was somewhat attributable to an initiative in 1975: several operators collaborated on a "pay-one-price" program wherein one ticket would allow admission to dozens of major rides across the peninsula.

The city continued to pursue litigation over the site occupied by Norman Kaufman. For over ten years, the city was unsuccessful in its efforts. It had no plan for the proposed state park, and in 1975 the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development nearly withdrew a proposed grant of $2 million to fund the proposed park. The city ultimately accepted the grant. However, in June 1977, the city's parks commissioner suggested that the city would redevelop the original Steeplechase Park's site as an amusement area instead of an open-space state park, and proposed that the city return the grant. This move was opposed by the chairman of the New York City Planning Commission, who wanted to use the grant to pay for pedestrian walkways at the Steeplechase site. In 1977 and 1978, Kaufman withheld rent payments to the city because of the ongoing litigation, and he sued the city for $1.7 million. By 1979, Kaufman had expanded his park and had plans to eventually rebuild the historic Steeplechase Park. He had also bought back the original Steeplechase horse ride with plans to install it the following season. Kaufman continued to operate the site until the end of summer 1980. In June 1981, the city paid Kaufman a million dollars for the rides, even though the amusements were estimated to be worth much less than that. Still, the city had finally succeeded in evicting Kaufman from the property.

In 1979, the state announced that it would be conducting a report on the feasibility of legalizing gambling in New York State, Mayor Ed Koch proposed that the state open casinos in New York City to revitalize the area's economy. Residents and politicians supported the idea of building casinos at Coney Island, since that could potentially reverse the area's growing negative reputation, as well as lower the neighborhood's poverty, crime, and property-vacancy rates. Koch later clarified that he would support gambling in New York City if a casino were to be built either in Coney Island or the Rockaways, but not in midtown Manhattan, and if the city received certain shares of table game and slot machine profits. There was substantial controversy over the plans to place a gambling site in Coney Island. The state's interest in legalizing gambling subsided by 1981, and the New York state legislature failed to take action on proposals to legalize gambling.

In an effort to reduce crime, the city also began demolishing abandoned bungalows on Coney Island. By 1982, the area was filled with vacant lots, though several residential developments were being planned for Coney Island. Having finally acquired Kaufman's rides, the New York City government began advertising for developers to redevelop the former amusement park area that November. The Mermaid-Neptune Development Corporation constructed three residential developments at the neighborhood's western edge, with a combined total of 430 units. These developments were completed through the mid-1980s. Even so, the area still suffered from drug-related killings and other crimes, especially west of West 20th Street. Former amusement structures such as the Parachute Jump lay unused, and prostitutes roamed around the neighborhood at night. Through the 1980s, prostitution and drug use in Coney Island increased, as did the area's murder and felony crime rate. By the late 1980s, deadly shootings were common, particularly in the low-income housing developments inside Coney Island. Commercial activity also decreased, and by 1990, storefronts on Mermaid Avenue had decreased by 90%, from over 400 stores before the urban renewal to 39 stores afterward.

Bullard deal, Sportsplex, and KeySpan Park
In the mid-1980s, restaurant mogul Horace Bullard proposed rebuilding Steeplechase Park. He had already bought several acres of property just east of the Steeplechase Park site, including the site of the defunct Thunderbolt coaster and the lots west of the Abe Stark rink, and planned to spend $20 million just on cleaning up the neighborhood. His plans called for using the property, bounded by West 15th and 19th Streets between Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk, to build a $55 million theme park based on the original. The city agreed, and the project was approved in 1985. Bullard planned to open the park by mid-1986 to coincide with the Statue of Liberty's centennial. However, the project was delayed while the New York City Planning Commission compiled an environmental impact report. By early 1987, the cost of the amusement park nearly doubled, to $100 million.

Concurrently, in December 1986, the New York State Urban Development Corporation formally proposed the construction of a $58 million, 17,000-seat minor-league baseball stadium on the land bounded by West 19th and 22nd Streets, Surf Avenue, and the boardwalk, sandwiched between Bullard's development to the west and the New York Aquarium to the east. There would also be a 15,000-seat indoor arena north of the Abe Stark Rink. Negotiations were ongoing with the Mets and Yankees to ensure their support for the minor-league stadium. State senator Thomas Bartosiewics attempted to block Bullard from building on the Steeplechase site. Bartosiewics was part of the Brooklyn Sports Foundation, which had promised another developer, Sportsplex, the right to build an amateur sports arena on the site. Construction was held up for another four years as Bullard and Sportsplex fought over the site. By mid-1989, Bullard and the city were ready to sign a contract that would allow the developer to invest $250 million on Coney Island's redevelopment. Bullard wanted to construct a 60-ride amusement park on a 25 acre waterfront strip, which would be completed by 2002. The city would pay $20 million to build a parking lot for the amusement park.

Other proposals for the area included a $7.9 million restoration of the boardwalk, as well as a new high-school and college sports stadium. Some of Coney Island's iconic rides were designated as official city landmarks during the late 1980s. In 1988, the Cyclone roller coaster was made a New York City designated landmark. This was followed by the Parachute Jump and the Wonder Wheel in 1989. The neighborhood's high crime rate had reversed slightly by the 1990s. However, Coney Island's relative isolation from the rest of New York City, along with its ethnic diversity, deprived the area of significant political power, and to a greater extent money.

After Rudy Giuliani took office as New York City mayor of New York in 1994, he negated the Bullard deal by approving the construction of a minor-league baseball stadium on the site allotted for Steeplechase Park. Giuliani had wanted to build Sportsplex in order to improve sports facilities in the area, and to create a professional baseball team in Brooklyn. By the late 1990s, some $67 million had been secured for the development of Sportsplex. Developer Bruce Ratner proposed constructing a $100 million entertainment complex next to Sportsplex, between West 9th and West 15th Streets, in 1997. The complex would include a "virtual-reality amusement park" as well as a movie theater multiplex. Concurrently, a four-phase, 873-unit housing development in Coney Island was completed in 1996.

In 1998, Giuliani had canceled Sportsplex and the entertainment complex, and instead unveiled another plan where only the parking lot would be built. The Sports Foundation had prepared another proposal that would allow a scaled-down Sportsplex to be built next to the minor-league baseball stadium. The minor league team was called the Brooklyn Cyclones, though naming rights to the stadium were sold to Keyspan Energy. Bullard, now no longer rebuilding Steeplechase Park, had wanted to restore the Thunderbolt as part of a scaled-down amusement park, but Giuliani had the coaster demolished after claiming that it was about to collapse. In 2000, the city approved the $31 million project to construct Keyspan Park using the funds from the canceled Sportsplex, and the minor-league baseball stadium opened the following year. Other major projects at the time included the reconstruction of Coney Island's sewers and the refurbishment of the Stillwell Avenue subway station, the latter of which was completed in 2005.

Thor Equities ownership and rezoning proposals


In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took an interest in revitalizing Coney Island as a possible site for the New York City bid of the 2012 Summer Olympics. A plan was developed by the Astella Development Corporation. When the city lost the bid for the Olympics, revitalization plans were passed on to the Coney Island Development Corporation (CIDC), which came up with a plan to restore the resort.

Shortly before the CIDC's plans were to be publicly released, a development company named Thor Equities purchased all of Bullard's 168000 ft2 western property for $13 million, almost six times what it had been valued. In less than a year, Thor sold the property to Taconic Investment Partners for over $90 million. Taconic now had 100 acre, on which it planned to build 2,000 apartment units. Thor then went about using much of its $77 million profit to purchase property on Stillwell Avenue for well over market value, and offered to buy out every piece of property inside the traditional amusement area.

In September 2005, Thor's founder, Joe Sitt, unveiled his new plans for a large Bellagio-style hotel resort with a timeshare development, surrounded by rides and amusements. The CIDC report suggested adding year-round commercial and amusement area, and recommended that property north of Surf Avenue and west of Abe Stark Rink could be rezoned for other uses, including residential. Sitt, a resident of the area, spent more than $100 million to buy land in Coney Island. Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert, whose husband's family had owned the park since 1962, sold the site to Thor in November 2006. Two months later Thor released renderings for a new amusement park to be built on the Astroland site called Coney Island Park. The amusement park would cost $1.5 billion and include hotels, shopping, movies, an indoor water park, and the city's first new roller coasters since the 1920s.

In 2007, the DCP started circulating a rezoning plan that would cover 47 acre of Coney Island. The city would spend $120 million to redevelop 15 acre into an amusement park surrounded by around 5,000 new housing units. The Aquarium was also planning a renovation in conjunction with the rezoning. The city's and Sitt's proposals directly conflicted: Sitt wanted to build housing inside the amusement park, while the city's rezoning would create a special amusement district where residential development was forbidden. In April 2008, because of objections from land owners, residents, and developers, the city revised its rezoning proposal. Only 9 acres would be used as an amusement park, while private owners and developers could build on the rest of the land as long as they followed the DCP's general master plan. While the city negotiated with Thor, Sitt evicted several amusement operators on his land, including Astroland, in the expectation that he would soon be able to redevelop it. The DCP certified the rezoning plan in January 2009, which allowed the city to create a 9.4 acre amusement district. At the time, Thor Equities said it hoped to complete the project by 2011. In June 2009, the city's planning commission approved the construction of 4,500 units of housing, including 900 affordable units, and promised to preserve affordable housing already in the neighborhood. Subsequently, the city government paid Sitt $95.6 million for 7 acre of land. The nonprofit civic group, Municipal Art Society, wanted the city-operated park to be larger, though the city was reluctant to spend so much money.

Progress on expansion
The Zipper and Spider on West 12th Street were closed permanently and dismantled in September 2007 after its owner lost his lease. The same year, plans to restore Coney Island's historic B&B Carousell were revealed. After Astroland closed in 2008, it was replaced by a new Dreamland in 2009 and by a new Luna Park in 2010. In April 2011, the first new roller coasters to be built at Coney Island in eighty years were opened as part of efforts to reverse the decline of the amusement area. The B&B Carousell reopened in 2013 at Luna Park. The Thunderbolt steel roller coaster, named after the original wooden coaster on the site, was opened in June 2014. Furthermore, a live performance venue, the Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island, opened on the boardwalk in 2016.

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused major damage to the Coney Island amusement parks, the Aquarium, and businesses. However, the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest was held the following summer, as usual. Luna Park at Coney Island reopened as scheduled on March 24, 2013. Rebuilding of the aquarium started in early 2013, and a major expansion of the aquarium opened in summer 2018.



In August 2018, the NYCEDC and NYC Parks announced that Luna Park would be expanded on a 150,000 ft2 city-operated parcel between West 15th and West 16th Streets, next to the Thunderbolt. The rides would include a 40 ft log flume, a zip-line, and a ropes course that would open in 2020. There would also be a public plaza and an amusement arcade within the newly expanded amusement area. The same month, it was also announced that a 50-room boutique hotel was being planned for Coney Island. The hotel would be located within the former Shore Theater on Surf and Stillwell Avenues, which had been abandoned since 1978. If built, the hotel would be the first to be constructed in Coney Island in more than half a century. The city also expressed its intent to demolish the Abe Stark Rink and redevelop the site, as per the 2009 rezoning, though residents wanted NYC Parks to retain control over the site rather than sell it off to a private developer.

The addition of new amusements coincided with the development of over 2,000 new residential units on empty lots, through the early 2020s. These included a 1,000-unit mega-development and a 40-story, 522-unit residential tower that would be the tallest in southern Brooklyn.