This story has been updated.
The People’s Playground will not become a gambler’s paradise anytime soon. After months of attempting to win over local residents and businesses, Thor Equities’ Coney Island casino bid appears to be dead in the crisp, salty waters of the Atlantic.
On Monday, September 29, a community advisory committee officially killed the casino proposal with a 4-2 vote against the bid, despite the developer attempting to throw in some 11th-hour add-ons. In the week since a majority of the committee independently declared their intent to vote the casino down, Thor reportedly multiplied their proposed “public safety grant” to $100 million (previously just $15 million), and tossed another $100 million into a community trust fund, granting officials total control over the purse, according to Crain‘s. “If they would’ve put forth an effort a lot earlier in convincing the community, or putting forth a lot of these amendments, maybe the conversation could’ve been different,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in a statement.
Thor’s proposal, which sought to build a colossal (1.6 million square-foot) gaming, hotel, convention, and god-knows-what-else complex called “The Coney”—basically on top of the iconic boardwalk and amusement park(s) along Surf Avenue—has received enough early no’s from those on the Community Advisory Committee to effectively kill it even before the bid heads to vote. A pivotal objection to the proposal arrived Monday, September 22, from Reynoso, who claimed The Coney “is deeply unimpressive and unresponsive to the needs, desires, and rich history of the Coney Island community,” in an op-ed for the Brooklyn Paper. “Quite simply, it will not improve conditions for the Brooklynites who call Coney Island home,” Reynoso wrote.
The Borough President joined city council member Justin Brannan, state senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, and Marissa Solomon (appointed to the CAC by assembly member Alec Brook-Krasny) in opposition to The Coney proposal, each submitting separate statements on why they were unable to support the bid. Seeing the community loudly and intensely push back against developers in a pair of public hearings moved the needle for Scarcella-Spanton. “After taking part in two public hearings regarding this application, reading countless testimonies, and meeting with and hearing from my constituents about their thoughts, perspectives, and concerns regarding this application, I have decided to vote in opposition,” she wrote in a statement.
All four voted against the proposal on Monday—reps for Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul were the only two in support of the Coney Island project.
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