NEWS: World's Tallest Ferris Wheel coming to Staten Island

[jedimaster1227]

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/09/27/city-strikes-deal-for-worlds-tallest-ferris-wheel-on-staten-island/

 

New York may not have the world’s tallest skyscraper, but it wants the world’s biggest Ferris Wheel.

 

The Bloomberg administration announced Thursday morning it had struck a deal with an investor group named New York Wheel, LLC to build a 625-foot observation wheel on Staten Island that would hoist tourists and visitors to offer views of a distant Manhattan vista.

 

At the same time, the city announced a deal with BFC Partners to build an outlet mall designed by avant-garde design firm SHoP Architects to a neighboring site, both of which are city-owned lots located by the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

 

For the two deals–reported by the Journal in June and August–the developers are presumably targeting the streams of tourists who take the free ferry ride from Manhattan for its views of the harbor and Statue of Liberty, only to hop on the return trip without leaving the terminal.

 

If it’s ultimately built, the wheel would have 36 pods that could each hold 40 riders, taking 38 minutes for the ride. The builders hope to attract 4.5 million riders a year.

 

It would be significantly larger than the 442-foot London Eye, and 84 feet bigger than the Singapore Flyer, currently the world’s largest Ferris wheel.

 

“The New York Wheel will be an attraction unlike any other in New York City – even unlike any other on the planet,” New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement announcing the deals Thursday.

 

Of course, there are challenges for the wheel. For one, there is its distance from Manhattan. The London Eye is just a 1,500-foot hop across the Thames from Parliament, offering up-front views of the historic city.

 

Meanwhile, Staten Island is roughly six miles from Lower Manhattan, making for a less impressive view of the skyline, as well as leaving more room for mist or rain to get in the way.

 

As for the mall, is envisioned to have about 350,000 square feet of retail space with 100 shops, as well as a 120,000 square foot hotel. Slated to be named Harbor Commons, it would seem to have a natural constituency given the allure that high-end shops have to tourists.

 

Both deals would also need to get through the city’s lengthy land use review process.

 

Below, additional renderings of the Ferris Wheel:

Edited January 8, 2013 by jedimaster1227

[beatle11]

Not sure about the location, but it at least looks nice in the rendering.

[theonetheonlyJT]

Sounds like a cool idea, also I wonder if this has anything to do with the F1 race for next year.

[simon8899]

Another place to visit if I'll likely return to NYC in 2015.

 

And for all non-US visitors: The wheel will top at an amazing 190 meters!

[XYZ]

This is amazing, I'm glad New York recieved a ferris wheel as I always thought it would be nice to go on an observatory without going on top of a building (Empire State, 30 Rock). I think this Staten Island location is really good as it has the best views of New York Harbor with the Lower Manhattan skyline in the back. Also, this will probably put Staten Island back on the map and to have Staten Island residents be able to be proud of something in their burough.

[SLUSHIE]

Sounds like a cool idea, also I wonder if this has anything to do with the F1 race for next year.

 

I doubt it, the locations are a little ways apart.

 

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Bank+St&daddr=Port+Imperial+Blvd&hl=en&ll=40.706953,-73.968982&spn=0.256353,0.528374&sll=40.784879,-73.998953&sspn=0.016003,0.033023&geocode=FQU7bAIdWqiV-w%3BFWxDbgIdp7KW-w&t=w&gl=us&mra=mift&mrsp=1&sz=16&z=12

 

Also it's assumed that race might not actually be happening. They are building the pit garages, but other terms haven't been met or agreed upon, and the deadline I think already passed.

 

38 minutes seems like a long time. I guess a ferris wheel is now a major city of the world must have.

Edited October 8, 2012 by SLUSHIE

[theonetheonlyJT]

^ Yeah sorry about that I don't know much about the locations of the area.

 

Also it's assumed that race might not actually be happening. They are building the pit garages, but other terms haven't been met or agreed upon, and the deadline I think already passed.

Yeah with their corrupt boss anything can happen but I would really like to see a F1 race there for at least one year.

[fraroc]

From a Long Islander's point of view this is freakin awesome! I hope to get on it when it opens! Even though I wish they would do some more revitalization of Coney Island (AKA Zamperla Land)

[larrygator]

^Revitalization of Coney Island will continue. This year a few restaurants/bar opened on Surf Avenue (including a Grimaldi's Pizza outpost), the B&B Carousell returns in 2013 and bids are being accepted for the plot of land where the Thunderbolt once stood.

[lil jimmy norton]

Looks amazing, but I can only imagine how crowded the ferry and both terminals are going to be.

[BeemerBoy]

CLICKY

 

I just saved you time and money, should this ever happen.....which it probably won't.

 

You're welcome.

[jedimaster1227]

http://www.nbc40.net/story/20479704/plan-for-nyc-ferris-wheel-rolls-on-despite-sandy

 

As the city grapples with rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy, developers are pressing ahead with plans for an ambitious addition to the shoreline of storm-torn Staten Island: the world's largest Ferris wheel.

 

Sandy's flooding spurred some changes to the nearly $500 million project, which includes an outlet mall and hotel. But developers haven't slowed it or scaled it back. Supporters say Staten Island needs the boost now more than ever.

 

Yet some residents, a city watchdog and a planning group have asked whether it makes sense to push ahead with a 625-foot-tall tourist attraction, set partly in a flood zone, before officials take a comprehensive look at how to build smarter after Sandy. And some say it's unseemly to talk about amusement rides when Sandy has left a trail of loss.

 

The storm gave wheel developer Richard Marin "momentary pause," he said. But he quickly decided to keep going on a project he considers a one-of-a-kind boon for the city's oft-dubbed "forgotten borough."

 

"We're providing some things for the city and for the local community that they would have no other way of getting right now," said Marin, the chief executive of New York Wheel LLC. "Quite frankly, this borough is extremely lucky that this kind of project is under way."

 

The company is looking to line up a multimillion-dollar sponsor by April, with serious interest from a half-dozen companies at the moment, as the project works its way through various government reviews, Marin said.

 

The city Economic Development Corp., which is playing a leading role in the reviews, says it's "as committed as ever" to the plan. Private money will pay for the project, and the city would get $2.5 million a year in rent for two parking lots where the wheel, mall and hotel would be.

 

Mayor Michael Bloomberg envisions the attraction becoming one of the city's premier draws, offering vistas of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty to as many as 30,000 riders a day. Sen. Charles Schumer has called the wheel "Staten Island's Eiffel Tower." Developers aim to get it going by the end of 2015.

 

The project is several miles from the Staten Island communities Sandy struck hardest. Still, the storm pushed 3 to 4 feet of seawater onto the wheel and mall sites, developers said.

 

The project was already planned so ground floors would sit above what the federal government has, at least to this point, considered a once-in-100-year flood. But the 100-shop outlet center and 200-room hotel are already being raised another 2 feet. The wheel's terminal building may also be moved up.

 

Nonetheless, since Sandy, the developers have been making sure the buildings can withstand flooding, Marin said. Surfaces on the wheel terminal's ground floor are now being planned in marble or other materials that can withstand seawater. Marin said developers are ensuring that electrical and mechanical equipment will be 30 feet above sea level, and the wheel itself will be designed to withstand sustained winds up to 129 mph, far stronger than Sandy's.

 

Mall and hotel developer BFC Partners is also elevating key equipment and looking at stone or a water-resistant wall material for the most vulnerable store spaces, partner Joseph Ferrara said. After residents expressed concerns that the mall's four finger-like buildings could channel a storm surge into the neighborhood, the company is thinking about designing the garages to serve as massive retention pools if needed, said Ferrara, who lives on Staten Island.

 

"Obviously, my heart goes out to the people who did lose what they lost, but we have to just forge ahead," he said, pointing to the amenities, 1,200 construction jobs and 1,250 permanent jobs the combined development is expected to create. "To me, that's an incredible opportunity that Staten Island should not lose out on."

 

The developers' stormproofing plans have addressed some residents' concerns, said David Goldfarb, an officer in a nearby neighborhood group. While some residents have misgivings, particularly about traffic, there's also an appetite for seeing something rise on a property where development plans have been broached and shelved for decades, he said.

 

But in Sandy's wake, some Staten Island residents are questioning whether it's the right time and place for the attraction.

 

Nancy Rooney, a nurse who lives and works on the island, went to a public meeting about the project last month and left with a rueful feeling about it.

 

"It was in poor taste to be discussing a Ferris wheel and all this glamor - it was very hard to embrace this when you knew that your colleagues and their family members were devastated, and there were people who don't have heat or electricity or homes," she said later.

 

Several City Council members and state legislators said in a letter they were aghast that the meeting was held little more than two weeks after the Oct. 29 storm, though they remained "generally supportive" of the project.

 

Marin said that developers were aware of the concerns, but that the meeting would have taken months to reschedule because of public-notice requirements.

 

Others say the wheel should wait until the city thinks through what Sandy will mean for waterfront building.

 

"Before the storm, I don't think that anyone had really given much consideration to the fact that these projects are being built in a flood plain," said Beryl Thurman, a Staten Island environmental activist. She thinks the attraction "should be put on a back burner until the city of New York can come up with real answers."

 

The city Independent Budget Office, a watchdog agency, and the Municipal Arts Society, a nonprofit urban planning group, both spotlighted the Ferris wheel plan in separate blog posts wondering what development lessons the city will learn from Sandy.

 

Building the Ferris wheel and other waterfront projects without a citywide look at coastal building "increases the risk that the next 'superstorm' will exact an even higher price tag," IBO spokesman Doug Turetsky wrote.

 

But to Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, Sandy's blow is no reason to step back from what he sees as a transformative project for the battered borough. If anything, it's just the opposite.

 

"We have to show the community, and we have to show the world, we're coming back," he said.

[gisco]

They still don't have the money for this yet!

[azza29]

^Is the business case strong enough? How much are people realistically going to pay to ride this thing? 30,000 visitors per day seems very optimistic.

 

The London Eye worked because it is unique, I don't understand why every other city decides it needs a giant ferris wheel too. The (smaller) one in Melbourne cost $100m, opened for two weeks in 2008 before breaking (poor design = structural cracks), five years later they're still rebuilding. Will probably open in December and file for bankruptcy by February.

[larrygator]

On average 75,000 people ride the Staten Ferry each day and my unscientific guestimate (after riding 1,000 of times myself) is that 10% of ridership is tourists. Probably closer to 5% on weekdays but up to 30% on weekends. However in the end that is an average of 7,500 per day who generally take the ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island, get off the boat make a lap around the terminal and get back on the same boat and return to Manhattan. Even if they optimistically convert a very high percentage of those travelers to the wheel that's only 5,000 riders per day.

 

Now suppose that the Big Wheel becomes such a big success that twice as many tourists take the 25 minute ferry ride to Staten Island. You are still looking at only 10,000 rides per day.

 

Now let's assume that half of Staten Island's 500,000 residents ride the Wheel once in the first two years of operation. That's another 350 people per day.

 

Now let's assume that 10% of the rest of NYC ride the wheel once in the first two years of operation. That's another 1,000 people per day.

 

I'm not confident the 30,000 rider per day figure is feasible.

 

On the other hand NYC gets about 50 million visitors per year, 20% of them would need to ride the Wheel to average 30,000 riders per day.

Edited January 9, 2013 by larrygator

[gisco]

^Would 20% of the tourists want to waste half a day to go ride this wheel? I don't think so. To many other things to do in New York for the average tourist. Off the top of my head I can think of six things I would rather do in New York and riding in a wheel isn't one of them and I have never been to New York.

[larrygator]

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/new_york_wheel_and_empire_outl.html

 

I was remiss in not posting this sooner, as the project was green lighted one month ago

 

New York Wheel and Empire Outlets, approved by City Council, will come to Staten Island (video and photos)

Ryan Lavis/Staten Island Advance

on October 30, 2013 at 8:08 PM, updated October 31, 2013 at 12:46 AM

 

CITY HALL -- It's official: The New York Wheel and Empire Outlets are coming to Staten Island.

 

The mammoth development represents the biggest private investment -- roughly $580 million -- in the North Shore's history and the biggest investment in the entire borough since the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the 1960s. In addition, it's projected to generate $101 million for the city.

 

"This is the biggest thing that ever happened to the North Shore of Staten Island," City Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore), said after the Council voted its approval. "In fact, it is the biggest observation wheel in the world."

 

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called it a "momentous day for Staten Island."

 

"The New York Wheel and Empire Outlets will become one of the city's most popular destinations, drawing millions of visitors every year -- not just from the five boroughs and the region, but also nationwide and around the globe," Bloomberg said in a statement.

 

Some of the drama of the Council vote was sapped by Tuesday night's accord between labor and the developers: There will be 100 percent union labor on Empire Outlets, obviating a major sticking point in negotiations. But the vote was still delayed for hours Wednesday as final details were hammered out.

 

While Ms. Rose wanted the best project for the borough, her concerns were first and foremost about her community and Staten Island as a whole, she said.

 

"I started this process wanting to find the win-win, benefiting Staten Island and our residents, and there was doubt expressed that these goals could be reached," Ms. Rose said. "The elusive win-win has been achieved."

 

BENEFITS TO BOROUGH

 

That win-win includes a whopping $51 million in city investment on Staten Island. Ms. Rose rattled off a list of some of those projects -- ranging from a traffic mitigation fund to repairs to the esplanade along Richmond Terrace.

 

In addition to what Ms. Rose listed, about $35 million will be allocated by the DOT for Staten Island Ferry terminal design, a project already in the works.

 

The state has previously awarded an $11.5 million grant to help fund infrastructure improvements related to the project -- and that will be matched by the city, with $8.5 million coming from the city and another $3 million coming from Borough President James Molinaro, a strong supporter of the project.

 

"It's not every day someone comes and knocks on your door and says. 'I wanna invest half a billion dollars,'" Molinaro told the Advance. "You can't chase them away, because then nobody is going to be knocking on your door anymore."

 

But beyond traffic and infrastructure, the debate between the Building and Construction Trades Council and BFC Partners, developers of Empire Outlets, was the highest-profile stumbling block over the last year, with organized labor holding rallies against the project as recently as this month in response to BFC's refusal to sign a project labor agreement for 100 percent union labor.

 

PROJECT LABOR AGREEMENT

 

Staten Island union worker talks Wheel and Outlets from City Hall

So how did BFC go from agreeing to use roughly 15 percent organized labor to 100 percent?

 

BFC Partners principal Donald Capoccia and labor representatives wouldn't answer that question after the vote.

 

But the project labor agreement signed with the Trades Council calls for a 20 percent cost savings as compared to the union contractors' typical costs, according to a source familiar with negotiations. That likely went a long way in helping. The cost savings doesn't apply to the public works parts of the project.

 

Another factor was an agreement from the Building Trades to hire mainly Staten Islanders.

 

"The building trades have agreed to open their open their list, their membership, and to look at their list for local residents to be considered for these jobs," Ms. Rose said during a press conference with Speaker Christine Quinn.

 

Ms. Rose said she has also talked to Local 32BJ and the Hotel Trades Council about using local residents to fill some of the permanent jobs.

 

"And given the unemployment rate on Staten Island," Ms. Quinn added, "and the desire for all the unions always to have the best workers they can, Staten Island is a great place to look -- particularly the North Shore."

 

Speaker Quinn and Ms. Rose said there had been no "quid pro quo" tax or other incentives offered by the city to grease the wheels.

 

"That was just an agreement that was reached because it was the best thing for the project," Ms. Quinn said. "This project generates good, quality jobs from which people can support their families, and will make sure the Wheel and the mall are the best-made buildings and structures they can possibly be."

 

REACTION POSITIVE

 

Developers of New York Wheel and Empire Outlets react to City Council vote

Following the vote, developers of both projects breathed a sigh of relief following a strenuous day of negotiations.

 

"This has been a long road," said BFC's Capoccia. "Where we've gotten today, it opens a new era for Staten Island and we are more excited today with this project than we were when we thought this up a couple of years ago.

 

Said Rich Marin, CEO of the New York Wheel: "I was very confident coming into today, and it took a little longer during the day to get through the process, but it's all come out where we wanted it."

 

When pressed, neither developer would give specifics on what, if any, incentives helped make up the cost difference in using 15 percent union labor as opposed to 100 percent.

 

"I'm just trying to get through the rest of the day," said Capoccia when asked about the cost factor, before he walked away.

 

"This is a project that benefits everybody, so I think everybody needs to give a little bit to help the community out in satisfying its needs," said Marin. "I think everyone did what they were supposed to do."

 

Representing organized labor, Lenore Friedlaender, Director of Build Up NYC, said they were pleased an agreement was reached -- but also didn't offer specifics on the deal.

 

"It really took everyone working together to get an agreement that provides good jobs for Staten Islanders both on the construction side and the operations, maintenance and hotel side," she said. "I think that at the end of the day everybody realized that it really makes sense -- the economics of the projects support having good jobs."

 

As for Ms. Rose's fellow Council members, they too were pleased.

 

"The word from the Council delegation to those investors big and small is: The North Shore and Staten Island is open for business," Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) said. "Bring your money, bring your investment, bring your job opportunities."

 

Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) got to vote on the project before either of his Island colleagues, as a member of the subcommittee on zoning and franchises.

 

"This is the renaissance of the North Shore, of the gold coast of the North Shore, and the return on the investment from the taxpayer will be huge," he said.

 

Ignizio then went on the record with the day's most popular pun: "We are wheely, wheely, excited about this."

[gisco]

Interesting that they have agreed to use all union labor. Sounds expensive!

[larrygator]

Interesting that they have agreed to use all union labor. Sounds expensive!

 

Unfortunately, that's how things work in New York.