Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Sitt May Not Go Down As A Bunch Of Bullard Afterall

As opposed to Horace Bullard who dreamed of being an amusement impresario for Coney Island and turned out to be a Coney hold-out-for-profit after failing in the 80's - could Joe Sitt who started out with whiffs of a greedy speculator out for profit turn out to be a true wannabe amusement mogul?

Joe Sitt and Thor Equities may have looked like a pure speculator out for an swift profit and run. But now he's upped the stakes in the Coney Island chicken game by playing his own trump card - which could mean he really wants to be the amusement impresario he's claiming to aspire to. Or in the end perhaps just really good at what he's always done.

Sitt's offer to purchase Kansas Fried Chicken mogul, Horace Bullard's three acre 'Thunderbolt' site for a walloping $91 million. A much higher figure than the city thew around, said Bullard. And now with the city's attempts to swallow up most of the land through tax payer money, it looks like Joe Sitt is back in the game. If Sitt ends up with the land it will make it very costly for Bloomberg and the city to acquire the land they need to transform it to 'parkland'.

The Brooklyn Paper writes:
If Sitt gets Bullard's land, the land-acquisition pricetag for the Bloomberg plan would nearly double. That could put pressure on the city to relent and back the zoning change Sitt seeks.

The New York Post writes:
Purchasing Bullard's site would expand Sitt's boardwalk portfolio to west of Stillwell Avenue as the developer would control most of the land stretching from Keyspan Park to the Cyclone rollercoaster.

Sitt spokesman Stefan Friedman revealed the developer needs the extra space for a "massive entertainment-amusement" complex he wants to set up on the boardwalk this summer and beyond, which is a back-up plan should deal to sell to the city not be reached.


Sitt Seeks More Coney Land [The Brooklyn Paper]
Coney Boss Eyes More Land [The New York Post]


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