{"id":28576,"date":"2025-07-01T01:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T01:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/28576\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T01:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T01:20:10","slug":"city-council-approves-coney-island-casino-rezoning-as-state-begins-to-consider-gaming-licenses-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/28576\/","title":{"rendered":"City Council approves Coney Island casino rezoning as state begins to consider gaming licenses \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York City Council on Monday approved a rezoning that would allow the proposed Coney Island casino to build a massive facility in the People\u2019s Playground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Council members \u2014 including Justin Brannan, who represents the nabe \u2014 voted 36-11 with four abstentions in favor of The Coney<\/a>\u2019s plan to demap<\/a> part of Bowery Street and purchase air rights above existing streets and buildings, making way for three high-rise towers and two pedestrian bridges.<\/p>\n

\"coneyAfter the rezoning was approved, the casino would include three high rise towers and two pedestrian bridges.Rendering courtesy of FXCollaborative\/New York City Planning<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s vote continues to show that the more people learn about our project and the benefits it will bring, the more they like it,\u201d said Melissa Gliatta, COO of Thor Equities, in a statement. \u201cWe now move one step closer to fulfilling a promise of economic transformation for Coney Island that includes the creation of thousands of jobs and a $200 million locally led community trust fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vote does not guarantee that The Coney is coming. The team \u2014 headed by Joe Sitt\u2019s Thor Equities \u2014 is still vying for one of three new Downstate casino licenses from the state. Last week, eight casino teams, including The Coney, submitted their applications<\/a> to the state\u2019s Gaming Facility Location Board, and final decisions won\u2019t be made until the end of this year. In the meantime, each application will be reviewed by its own Community Advisory Committee<\/a> comprised of six members appointed by local elected officials. Each CAC will hold at least two public hearings, and must hold a final vote on the applications by Sept. 30. Only applications supported by at least two-thirds of the CAC will be considered by the Board.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, Brannan told Brooklyn Paper it was \u201cnot up to me alone\u201d to determine whether there was enough support for the casino.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust me I would much rather have Coney Islanders organize for what they want than feel like they must fight for what they don\u2019t want,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is my responsibility to ensure that all stakeholders have the opportunity to make their voices heard on this matter through the Community Advisory Committee process mandated by New York State. Then all of the local elected officials can make a decision collectively.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposed casino and rezoning have proven divisive among Coney Islanders. In January, Community Board 13 voted overwhelmingly against<\/a> the rezoning, and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in March announced conditional support of the proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Council Member Inna Vernikov, who represents part of Coney Island and Brighton Beach, voted against the rezoning.\n<\/p>\n

\"coneyAn opponent of the casino at a Jan. 9 hearing. File photo by Erica Price \"\"Casino supporters say the casino would bring needed jobs and economic opportunity to the nabe. File photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

\u201cThis demapping makes the casino application and proposed development more likely to take place,\u201d she said. \u201cTherefore, I must vote against it, as over the past many months and at this point years, it has become clear that a majority in the community do not want a casino in Coney Island.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rezoning would allow The Coney, if it receives a license, to build three towers between 153 and 402 feet tall. Those towers would be connected by two large \u201cfloating\u201d pedestrian bridges across Stillwell Avenue and West 12th Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Per zoning documents, the casino will stretch across more than 1.3 million square feet, and include a 500-room hotel, a convention center, retail space, and 1,500 parking spots. The development would not remove the area\u2019s famous theme parks, Luna Park and Deno\u2019s Wonder Wheel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team behind The Coney say it would create 4,000 union construction jobs, 4,500 permanent jobs, and a $200 million \u201cCommunity Trust\u201d to fund local projects, plus a separate $15 million annual fund to support local emergency services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At a January CB13 hearing, local Joseph Watson said the nabe needs the investments and the jobs.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cMy \u2018yes\u2019 to The Coney is for the investments in our community,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cI\u2019m talking about the kids and the young men and women that live in NYCHA, that are renters, OK, they\u2019re not homeowners. These people, my people, we need an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"casinoA rendering shows the proposed casino at Stillwell Avenue and Surf Avenue. Rendering courtesy of FXCollaborative\/New York City Planning \"\"The development would include the casino, a hotel, retail space, and more. Rendering courtesy of The Coney<\/p>\n

Some locals, though, say the casino would put their livelihoods at risk. Coney Island USA, which is home to the Circus Sideshow, the Coney Island Museum, the Freak Bar and the Mermaid Parade, sits on the corner of one of the rezoned blocks. If the casino were constructed, it would sit directly atop Coney Island USA headquarters.<\/p>\n

Adam Rinn, artistic director at Coney Island USA, said the vote was \u201cextremely disappointing.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that we have elected officials who are here to represent the people. And let\u2019s be clear about that word: The people. Their constituents, not the folks with big money, not the developers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have over 20,000 signatures opposing this casino project. And the nerve, the nerve of these electeds to not take that into consideration. This is not a project that is here to help, this is a project that is set to destroy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Rinn said the fight would continue, and said he\u2019s hopeful the casino may not come to fruition \u2014 pointing to the 11 \u201cno\u201d votes from members including Shahana Hanif and Chi Oss\u00e9.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that the people of this city will stand behind us,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hope that the electeds will see the support that we\u2019re getting, and that we\u2019ve been getting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the gaming license were denied, the rezoning would be overturned \u2014 meaning developers would not be able to use the decision to build a non-casino facility.\n<\/p>\n

This is a breaking news story, check back for updates. Last updated 6\/30\/25, 8:50 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York City Council on Monday approved a rezoning that would allow the proposed Coney Island casino…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,24575,1121,22619,5310,6292,24576,9886,24577,24578,2556,393,24579,24580,6641,24581,24582,405,403,50,2295,5226,5225,5228,5227,24583,24584,24585,24586,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-28576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bowery-street","10":"tag-brooklyn","11":"tag-casino","12":"tag-city-council","13":"tag-coney-island","14":"tag-coney-island-casino","15":"tag-construction","16":"tag-convention-center","17":"tag-demapping","18":"tag-development","19":"tag-gaming","20":"tag-gaming-license","21":"tag-hotel","22":"tag-inna-vernikov","23":"tag-justin-brannan","24":"tag-land-use","25":"tag-new-york","26":"tag-new-york-city","27":"tag-news","28":"tag-newsletter","29":"tag-newyork","30":"tag-newyorkcity","31":"tag-ny","32":"tag-nyc","33":"tag-rezoning","34":"tag-riegelmann-boardwalk","35":"tag-the-coney","36":"tag-thor-equities","37":"tag-united-states","38":"tag-united-states-of-america","39":"tag-unitedstates","40":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","41":"tag-us","42":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}