From personalized math and
English, to learning a new language,
we provide your child with a wellrounded
academic experience that
will set them on a path to success.
Apply for K–6 at
HebrewPublic.org/Apply
Apply by: 4/1 | Lottery date: 4/9
COURIER L 12 IFE, MARCH 22–28, 2019 G
THEY’RE SHORE: A developer will proceed with renovating Coney Island’s landmarked
Shore Theater building after city preservationists approved its reworked scheme, which
now incorporates more details that honor the storied site’s original exterior.
THEATER
Continued from cover
site’s exterior — including fl attening
the former theater’s rooftop to make
way for an outdoor terrace and pool;
restoring the original limestone base
of the complex’s taller, seven-story
structure; and replacing that portion’s
windows, parts of its decaying brick
façade, and its decrepit top-fl oor balcony
— remained unchanged.
A Pye Property bigwig praised the
preservationists’ decision, cheering
the changes his team worked to make
following their fi rst appearance before
the panel, and promising to get to work
on restoring the site soon.
“We took in the commissioners’
feedback in the fi rst round, and we’re
going to kick off very soon,” said Eddie
Yadgarov.
Commission offi cials will now submit
the designers’ plans to the Department
of Buildings, which will issue
the necessary permit for the exterior
work, according to landmarks spokeswoman
Zodet Negron.
And once those permits are approved,
the developer hopes to begin
interior renovations by the end
of the summer, according to Gerner,
who said the entire job could wrap
within two years if all goes according
to plan.
GRASHORN
the top two fl oors as a hotel.
In 1971, amusement operator Wally
Roberts purchased the property, refashioning
the ground fl oor into an
arcade, and using the top two fl oors as
an apartment and a workshop, Denson
said.
But the building has been vacant
for more than a decade, according
to the historian, who said it has remained
empty since developer Joe Sitt,
the founder of real-estate fi rm Thor
Equities, purchased it for $1.4 million
in 2005 .
Sitt owned the most property in
the neighborhood until he sold a large
portfolio of his Coney Island holdings
to the city’s Economic Development
Corporation for $95.6 million in 2009,
when the Council passed the neighborhood’s
sweeping rezoning, according
to a Real Deal report .
Last fall, Sitt attempted to shed
even more of his local land when he
put 21 of his remaining area properties
— which allegedly together occupy
nearly 12 football fi elds’ worth of
space — up for sale, the Real Deal reported
at the time.
A rep for beleaguered local demolition
company Breeze National —
which the New York Daily News in
2013 reported had a deadly safety record,
and for years was run by an alleged
mobster — fi led the application
to demolish the Grashorn Building,
records show.
Reps from Thor Equities did not immediately
respond to inquiries about
when demolition would begin, what
the fi rm plans to do with the site after
the building is razed, whether it plans
to knock down anymore of its properties
in the area, or why bigwigs chose
Breeze National to do the demolition
work.
LEARN AND GROW WITH
HEBREW LANGUAGE
ACADEMY!
HLA - 2186 Mill Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11234
HLA2 - 1870 Stillwell Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11223
admissions@hebrewpublic.org | 646-916-0055
Continued from cover
File photo by Elizabeth Graham
link
/Apply
link