Don't start writing Astroland's last chapter in the history books quite yet. The Post is saying that the Bloomberg administration is in "serious negotiations" to buy 10.5 acres of Coney Island real estate - land which includes Astroland Park!
It's all part of the mayor's master plan to "revive the slumping seaside amusement district,"and seeing that we'll have four more years of Bloomberg, this move makes it all the more likely that we'll see his proposed nine-acre amusement park come to fruition.
This also means the developer Joe Sitt for Thor Equities will probably have to sell the land it owns back to the city, scrapping his controversial $1.5 billion dollar plan to turn Coney Island into a Brooklyn Las Vegas.
The Post lists three reasons why things are turning they mayors way, and why Sitt is starting to back off. First, by purchasing an acre of land in the middle of the developer's land was effectively the city planting a white flag in the dirt. Second, Bloomberg got another term, meaning he went from lame duck to property hawk overnight. And third, Sitt has other plans going on in Red Hook and Bensonhurst, so he's got to stay on the city's good side to keep those plans alive.
Regardless of what happens, the good news is "both the Cyclone rollercoaster at Astroland and the Wonder Wheel are protected landmarks", so they're not going anywhere any time soon.
