Joe Sitt and Melissa Gliatta

Thor Equities has been keeping its nose to the grindstone, honing its Coney Island casino proposal into the best tool to get one of the three available downstate gambling licenses.

Melissa Gliatta said she believes the firm founded by Coney Island native Joe Sitt is in the best possible position to win the hearts and minds of not only the people of southern Brooklyn, but also the New York State Gaming Commission.

“Our project is an area that needs it the most. You’re talking about a neighborhood that’s only activated three months out of the year, and people need jobs 12 months out of the year,” Gliatta said. “The opportunity to create not just jobs but careers, and the opportunity to revitalize an area that greatly needs it, it’s very compelling and has helped us gain so much momentum from the community.”

Thor will need as much leverage as it can get, with a half-dozen or so other proposals competing for the licenses in New York City alone. It has partnered with Saratoga Casino Holdings, the Chickasaw Nation and Legends to run the gaming side of the business while it plans to manage the $3 billion development and operation of the facility.

Amid a big emphasis on life sciences, industrial and retail in markets throughout the U.S., Mexico and Europe, Thor is also looking for investment opportunities beyond gaming, even if it does have a lot on its plate with the Coney Island casino project. And Thor seems to be entering a new phase of investment strategy with markets reviving from the pandemic — but from a point of caution.

“When we find the right opportunities, they could be mixed-use with a retail component. … But we also are looking across all asset classes where there might be an opportunistic play,” Gliatta said. “We’re putting our foot back in the water, watching where rents are, where pricing is, and asking, ‘Where do we fit?’ ”