Coney Island Death Watch: The Plywood Rundown

We return to our Coney Island Death Watch series, which has been on hiatus for a while, to offer a few photos of the plywood that Thor Equities has put up recently in the windows of some of the Coney buildings that it owns. We do not mean to imply that Coney Island will be "dead" after the end of the 2007 season (which ends on Sunday, 9/9 for Astroland), but it could be radically diminished if Thor Equities clears the land that it owns.

Years, if not decades, of observation of urban development and American cities has led us to conclude that plywood is never a good sign. Many people see the proliferation of Coney plywood as either (a). a precursor of demolition or (b). a way to make Coney Island look more vacant and blighted in order to increase pressure for a development deal.

Two more rides on Thor property--the Spider and Zipper--are being dismantled and removed this week, as noted by Coney Island USA's Dick Zigun on Sunday. They are bound for amusement parks in Central America. Astroland could also be dismantled in coming weeks if a deal to preserve it for the 2008 season isn't reached. Many of the businesses in Thor-owned properties on the boardwalk could also be in their last weeks if the developer refuses to renew leases and gets permits from the the city to demolish buildings. Given the lengthy land use review process that is ahead, no development can begin before late 2008 or 2009, at best, so a short-term future of increased emptiness could be coming if developer Joe Sitt and Thor Equities insist on evicting tenants and clearing land.

In any case, here are photos of the three Coney Island ThorWood Buildings (so far).