The Brooklyn Eagle and the Brooklyn Paper are both reporting that plans for a $64 million outdoor covered concert arena in Coney Island, long a pet project of Borough President Marty Markowitz, is encountering opposition from locals who object to its location in a residential area and those who feel that the money would be better spent on schools and library; the arena as planned (small rendering) would have 5,000 covered seats and room for another 3,000 people on the lawn and be located on the site of the current Asser Levy Park (shown at top). Marty wants Brooklyn to be able to compete with the likes of Jones Beach, Asbury Park and the PNC Center in Newark in New Jersey for national acts. “This is going to destroy the only open space in the neighborhood,” said Ida Sanoff, a former member of Community Board 13. Au contraire, says Marty: “The Coney Island Center will be a much-needed community resource, and will bring to Coney Island the kind of state-of-the-art performance facility Brooklyn deserves.” The anti-amphitheatre crowd is coalescing around a non-profit group called NYC Park Advocates. Community Board 13 will consider the matter at some point in the next two months.
$64 Million Question: New Seaside Park Amphitheater [Brooklyn Eagle]
Coney Residents: Asser Levy Us Alone! [Brooklyn Paper]
Coney Is ‘Jonesing’ for Concerts [Brooklyn Paper]
Photo by Kathryn Kirk for Brooklyn Paper; rendering from Grimshaw Associates.
