The boldest plan to draw people to Staten Island since the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge — a giant Ferris wheel that could be seen from Manhattan and Brooklyn — met an unceremonious end on Tuesday. The developers of the New York Wheel, which was supposed to take more than 1,400 riders at a time for a spin high above New York Harbor, surprised city officials with a letter that pronounced the project dead. That surrender ended the brightest of hopes for an attraction that could draw tourists and cast a new light on the least famous of the five boroughs. “After years of planning, the developers of the New York Wheel announce, with great disappointment, that the dream of building a world-class attraction in Staten Island will unfortunately not come to fruition,” Cristyne Nicholas, a spokeswoman for the project, said in a statement. City officials said they were sorry to learn that the project’s developers had decided to stop trying to complete it. The city owns the site and had extended generous tax breaks to the project, but had not invested directly in it.<doc-sep>The New York Wheel, a more than $900 million project that was plagued with infighting and cost overruns, was meant to bring a world class tourist destination to Staten Island. Rich Marin, the project’s founder and former CEO, once claimed the project would transform the borough’s waterfront into the “gateway to America.” But despite the attraction’s official death on Tuesday, multiple brokers said the area’s real estate market should escape its wreckage relatively unscathed. Staten Island’s residential market should see almost no impact, as most buyers or renters in the area were likely not basing their housing decisions on whether or not a giant Ferris wheel would arrive on the waterfront, brokers said. But the commercial market is a different story, as sources said the wheel’s failure could deter future investors and businesses from coming to the borough. “Initially, it’s a pretty big blow,” said Joe Tirone, broker and owner of Staten Island’s Community Home Brokerage, “and, personally, it cost us a pretty substantial deal.” Tirone said his company had been working with a local developer to bring a mixed-use project to a plot of land that would have overlooked the wheel. The project had already stalled as issues facing the wheel piled up, and now that the wheel plans are abandoned, the mixed-use project will likely face the same fate. While the impact from project’s cancellation would likely be limited, it may still be noticeable, particularly for stores that would have been located right by the site, according to Joseph Tsomik of Homes R Us Realty. “If you’re an investor looking to purchase a business that’s going to be around that area, that’s one less attraction,” he said. “It would have been a great attraction.” The wheel would have been located right on the waterfront of the borough’s St. George neighborhood, and broker Ron Molcho of American Homes Group stressed that other developments in the neighborhood were still proceeding apace. This would limit the amount of damage the failure of the wheel could do. “There’s still tremendous growth in that area,” he said. “You have the Empire Outlets. You have condo buildings there. You have a lot of things happening in the St. George area in addition to what the wheel was going to bring, so, no, I don’t think it makes it less desirable.” Empire Outlets, the outlet mall from BFC Partners, is another long-awaited project for the neighborhood that is now set to open in mid-April of next year. Retail tenants include Levi’s, H&M and Columbia Sporting Goods. Staten Island’s Casandra Properties is handling leasing for Empire Outlets, and broker James Prendamano said the wheel shutting down was just a minor bump in the road for it. He acknowledged that it would have an impact on the project but said that the mall was initially conceived without the New York Wheel in mind, and its location and expected number of tourists were still solid. “Of course, it’s a hiccup,” he said, “but these demographics with this type of an outlet work anywhere.” Tirone echoed this, describing it as “unrealistic to say it’s not going to be affected” but maintaining that “eventually, it’s going to prove to be a success.” Outside of New York real estate, the New York Wheel’s downfall marks one of the largest EB-5 failures in the program’s history. However, Canam Enterprises, the regional center which handled the funds from immigrant investors, said that the project had already created enough jobs for its investors to gain residency status in the United States. Meanwhile, the project’s developers, Lloyd Goldman and Jeffrey Feil previously said they will sell the wheel parts that have already been built. And lawsuits between the developers and their contractor may also resume. The city — which recently refused to provide a tax-exempt bond to keep the project afloat — remains committed to finding a new use for the roughly eight-acre site, according to the Economic Development Corporation, and multiple brokers expressed confidence that something would eventually go up on the land. Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban planning at New York University, said he did not have a specific idea of what would make an ideal fit for the plot but described the views of the Manhattan waterfront from Staten Island as one of the best parts of the city — something that doesn’t require a Ferris wheel to be enjoyed.<doc-sep>There’s no way to spin this: After many up-and-down cycles, Staten Island’s Ferris wheel has come to a complete stop. Developers behind Staten Island’s ambitious New York Wheel have officially pulled the plug on the project, ending months of speculation about its future. Staten Island Advance broke the news of the development, which is a startling turn of events for a project that was once touted to usher a renaissance for the North Shore section of Staten Island. For over a year now, the observation wheel project has been beset by infighting, construction woes, and more recently, legal troubles. The developer, New York Wheel LLC, was battling its former contractor Mammoet-Starneth on ownership of some of the Wheel’s parts, and last month a court granted the developers an extension to hire a new contractor and show that it had enough funds to procure those parts. However, two of the lead investors in the development—Lloyd Goldman and Jeffrey Feil—later expressed skepticism about the project moving forward without significant city funding. Both mayor de Blasio and the city’s Economic Development Corporation had previously stated that project didn’t seem like a sound investment for city funds. The developers have already spent $450 million on the waterfront development. The cost of the project has also ballooned from the $250 million estimate first put forward six years ago, to over $1 billion at present. Meanwhile, several other developments have been transforming Staten Island’s North Shore, including Empire Outlets, which is set to debut next month, and the residential development known as Staten Island Urby. The parking garage that was built will remain, a spokesperson for the New York Wheel, told the Staten Island Advance, and offer parking for 950 cars. The project has also created pedestrian access to the waterfront along Bank Street.<doc-sep>
A long-stalled $900 million plan to bring the largest Ferris wheel in the Western Hemisphere to Staten Island is officially dead, the project’s developer said Tuesday. “After years of planning, the developers of The New York Wheel announce, with great disappointment, that the dream of building a world-class attraction in Staten Island will unfortunately not come to fruition,” said Cristyne Nicholas, spokesperson for The New York Wheel project. Sources said the final nail in the project was Mayor Bill de Blasio’s refusal to bail it out. Investors had asked the city to approve tax-free status for a $380 million bond sale to get the 630-foot-high attraction back on track. “It was always a somewhat speculative idea. The Wheel was a private-sector endeavor that was supposed to pay for itself, and I think the economics were a little shaky from the beginning and they’ve proven to be shakier,” de Blasio said earlier this month on WNYC radio. The New York Wheel has been in the works on the borough’s north shore waterfront for at least six years. Developers have already poured in $450 million. The city-owned site where the wheel was set to rise is now home to four 100-ton pedestals. The project was originally supposed to cost about $450 million. But after extended delays, cost overruns and lawsuits between the developer and former contractor, Mammoet-Starneth, the price zoomed to about $900 million. An adjacent outlet mall has also faced delays. Empire Outlets — which has received $67 million in state subsidies from Gov. Andrew Cuomo — is scheduled to open in the spring after its debut was pushed back four times.