FIND THE LATEST NEWS UPDATED EVERY DAY AT BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
April 26–May 2, 2019 Including The Brooklyn Paper
AN ICY SERVING BROOKLYN FUTURE
SINCE 1958
City seeks proposals to rebuild beloved Coney Island ice rink
50 cents
Coney Island Councilman Mark Treyger blasted honchos at the New York City Housing Authority for failing
to fulfi ll their promise to carry out repairs to the neighborhood’s Surfside Community Center after
it was damaged in Superstorm Sandy. Read the full story at BrooklynPaper.com
John McCarten/NYC Council
Vol. 74 No. 17 BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
Call it breaking the ice.
The city is seeking proposals
from developers to demolish
and rebuild a beloved Coney
Island ice rink.
The Economic Development
Corporation — a quasigovernmental
agency tasked
with growing the city’s economy
— last month released the
request for proposals to tear
down and redevelop a new
public ice-skating rink at the
site of the Abe Stark Sports
Center, on the Riegelmann
Boardwalk between W. 19th
and W. 20th streets.
Plans for the property must
include a National Hockey
League regulation-sized rink
— which is about a third of the
size of a football fi eld — along
with viewing areas, locker
rooms, and skate rentals, according
to the request for proposals,
which also stated that
development plans must create
at least 30 permanent jobs.
The document adds that
honchos will give preference
to plans that propose additional
uses of the site — such
as “complimentary sporting
facilities, community space,
entertainment, retail and dining”
— and address climaterelated
concerns like sealevel
rise and storm surge by
including “energy-effi cient
features.”
The city has $42 million in
capital funding allocated to
pay for the project, but “proposals
that minimize the need
for city capital are strongly
preferred,” according to the
request for proposals.
Proposals are due June 7
by 4 p.m., according to agency
spokesman Christian Ficara,
who added that offi cials will
determine the timeline for
demolition and construction
based on the selected respondent’s
proposal.
The site, which is more
than double the size of a football
fi eld, has been used by local
hockey teams and fi gure
skaters since it was built in
1970, and draws large crowds
of amateur skaters when it
opens to the public on weekends.
The demolition and re-construction
of the rink — which
is currently under the jurisdiction
of the Parks Department
— are products of the
neighborhood’s 2009 rezoning,
which aims to expand the
amusement district along the
Riegelmann Boardwalk.
The rezoning also includes
plans to add housing and re-
Unfulfi lled promise
tail space to the MCU Parkadjacent
parking lot just north
of the rink, according to the
request for proposals, which
added that the city will retain
about 400 of the lot’s approximately
1,000 parking spots
as part of a lease agreement
with the Brooklyn Baseball
Company, which operates the
stadium.
But the plans for redevelopment
of the ice rink have not
come without controversy:
at a meeting last summer, locals
— including Councilman
Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island)
— called for the Parks
Department to retain control
over the rink, alleging that a
private developer might make
the new facility less accessible
to the community.
Other Coney Islanders
claim that the city could develop
the area without even
demolishing the rink.
/BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
/BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
/BrooklynPaper.com