Developers in New York are adhering to their plans to construct the world’s largest Ferris wheel.
The city, which is in rebuilding mode after the devastating super storm, Sandy, is to go ahead and build the structure, which it is hoped will also be seen as a mark of the city’s resilience. The new addition will grace the shoreline of storm-torn Staten Island and, once completed, the structure is expected to be the world’s largest Ferris wheel.
Even though flooding after Sandy has caused some changes to the nearly $500m project, the developers have maintained their impetus and not scaled it back. While supporters say that Staten Island needs the boost now more than ever, detractors are of the view that there are other more immediate needs that had to be fulfilled rather than building the Ferris wheel. The 625-foot-tall tourist attraction is set partly in a flood zone.
Developer, Richard Marin, said that the development would add to the beauty of the city’s, oft-dubbed, ‘forgotten borough.’
Marin, the chief executive of New York Wheel LLC, said, ‘We’re providing some things for the city and for the local community that they would have no other way of getting right now. Quite frankly, this borough is extremely lucky that this kind of project is under way.’
Private money will pay for the project, and the city will receive $2.5m a year in rent for the two parking lots where the wheel, a mall and a hotel will be located. The project was planned in such a manner that ground floors will sit above what the federal government has so far considered to be once-in-100-year flood line. After Sandy, the developers have been taking extra care to ensure that buildings can withstand flooding.
