Empire Outlets and $300M Wheel Begin City’s ULURP Process
By Al Barbarino May 21, 2013 7:30 am
reprints
Staten Island’s proposed Empire Outlets development project – and an accompanying 600-foot, $300 million ferris wheel – entered into the city’s six-month Universal Land Use Review Procedure yesterday.
If the zoning changes and special permits required for the construction of the development (and the giant wheel) are granted upon completion of the review, Brooklyn-based developer BFC Partners plans to break ground on the one-million-square-foot mixed-use complex in the winter of 2014.
The development and outlet mall will reportedly feature 125 designer retail outlets, a 200-room hotel, restaurants, a playground, expansive water views and a sustainable six-acre roof visible from the harbor.
The New York Post gave a sneak peak at the development yesterday morning, while Crain’s reported that the wheel would cost $300 million.
The New York Wheel, by a developer of the same name, concurrently entered the ULURP process yesterday. It is slated to become the second largest ferris wheel in the world and will feature a roughly 100,000-square-foot visitors center and parking garage.
It will rank as the second largest ferris wheel in the world once it is complete, with the recently-announced Dubai Eye slated to become the tallest, rising 688 feet at a cost of $1.6 billion.
The Toronto Sun ranked the top ten biggest ferris wheels in the world earlier this year.
Developers expect to complete the Empire Outlets in 2016.
