Bidders looking to bring a casino to Coney Island released their vision for the gambling hub on Friday, featuring a towering glass building overlooking the amusement park in the heart of the waterfront community.
Dubbed “The Coney,” the structure would feature the first legal gambling facility in the Five Boroughs, along with a new hotel just steps from the iconic Coney Island Boardwalk.
A short walk from the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel, the building would immediately transform the Coney Island skyline with its imposing structure, multi-colored rooftop, and heavily-illuminated surroundings on the ground.
The renderings of the proposed development were released by The Chickasaw Nation, Legends, Thor Equities and Saratoga Casino Holdings — a group of businesses that have combined to seek out one of three soon-to-be-awarded licenses to operate a casino in downstate New York.
With many observers expecting two of those three licenses to be awarded to locations surrounding race tracks outside of the Big Apple, several business consortiums are vying against one another for one spot in the city limits.
“The Coney” is just one of several proposals, including others located in Time Square, the Trump Organization’s golf course in the Bronx, and the area surrounding Citi Field in Queens.
If approved, the team behind “The Coney” say the project would bring jobs and year-round economic growth to the People’s Playground, according to former Brooklyn Council Member Robert Cornegy Jr,, who is working as an advisor on the project.
“I get to put passion where my mouth is and do something epic by bringing economic stability to Coney Island,” Cornegy told Brooklyn Paper last month. “This is one of those projects that I am proud to be on because it takes a seasonal community and turns it into a year-round economic development.”
Gamblers at the proposed casino would have access to all the same options as a visitor to Las Vegas, including slot machines and poker tables.
It would also give the area a space for meetings and conferences, as well as a year-round attraction in the neighborhood that is dominated by foot traffic in the summer months (due to the beach and the amusement park), but relatively desolate in the winter.
“We have such a vibrant group of locally-owned businesses that have been calling out for a year-round economic driver,” Cornegy said.
The bidders for various Downstate casino locations are currently seeking approval from the Community Advisory Committee, which is evaluating the proposals.
