Sitt Speaks and AP Listens

The only thing we can say about the AP story about Joe Sitt and Coney Island is that you've got to read it. You can draw your own conclusions when you do. Here are a few excerpts, highlighting Mr. Sitt's comments:

"Yeah, OK, it's a little bit grimy, etcetera," says Sitt, his voice rising with an enthusiasm belying his surroundings. "But it's got so much potential, calling out for someone to do something. I want to bring it back."...Sitt conjures something even more breathtaking, more bombastic, more Brooklyn: A year-round resort unlike anything previously seen in his native borough...

"Everybody has a labor of love, something that they do in life," Sitt explains in a voice still bearing a trace of Brooklynese. "Playing with cars, sports, whatever. Other guys like going to the beach and creating a castle, even knowing there's a chance the water's going to come and wash it away.

"They do it for the passion. For me, that's what Coney Island is."

Thor Equities has spent more than $100 million to acquire about 10 acres of Coney Island real estate over the last several years. Construction equipment is already on site, where a variety of projects -- including a high-end hotel (perhaps shaped like a roller coaster), a water park, retail outlets and residential property -- are under consideration.

Sitt's company still needs a city zoning change for its residential and hotel components; if all goes according to plan, the project would open in 2011.

On a weekday morning, Sitt -- in a dark blue pinstriped suit, lighter blue shirt and striped tie -- appears incongruous with the local environment, strolling up Stillwell Avenue toward the beach. But it soon becomes clear that he's equally at home on the boardwalk as in the boardroom..."Every single time I come out here, I get another vision," he says. "Restaurants, theaters. Everything comes off another visit."

Sitt heads heading back toward Stillwell Avenue, where a white trailer houses Thor's local operation. A nondescript wire fence surrounds the property, where rows of yellow school buses sit idly within a seashell toss of the beach.

"The Future of Coney Island Project" reads the lettering on the trailer's side. From Sitt's perspective, that means tapping into its past, too.

"Everybody else is trying to create a Coney Island," Sitt says. "We are the real thing. You know? We're the real thing! Anything else is a knockoff of this."

You'll have to read the part about Mr. Sitt talking with a German tourist and saying "Auf wiedersehen" in the story itself. Auf wiedersehen, indeed. Arrivederci and au revoir too.