Coney’s New Big Top

It has been rough sailing out at Coney Island of late, with the destruction of Astroland last winter and simmering tensions about the city’s rezoning proposal. But good news has started to trickle in this week, with the announcement Monday that $15 million in stimulus money would go toward replacing parts of the decaying boardwalk. That was followed yesterday by word of the possible creation of an “interim” amusement park next year so the summer escape will not be a total wasteland when the city rebuilds it.

And now comes the biggest show by the sea since Dreamland burned down, the new Coney Center, a $47 million amphitheater designed by Grimshaw. The project will replace a 1980s bandshell located in Asser Levy Park with a new 8,000-seat entertainment complex meant to attract marquee acts. Capping it all is a swooping, 60,000-square-foot roof in the shape of a hyperbolic paraboloid—picture a massive Pringles potato chip, but made of steel and translucent fiberglass, supercharged by hundreds of strobing stage lights.

Mark Husser, the partner-in-charge, sees the theater as the latest in a long line of Coney icons, both historic and geographic: the Parachute Jump, Keyspan Park, the defunct Elephant Hotel, the Cyclone, and now Coney Center. “What is the context of Coney Island? It’s that there is no context,” Husser said. “Everything is unique, everything is a spectacle, but in that uniqueness, Coney’s icons find unity.”

Borough President Marty Markowitz first announced the “state-of-the-art recreation facility” in his 2007 State of the Borough address, with the intention of competing with the other summer concert venues in the area, like Jones Beach and Westbury. While smaller than some of its rivals—the former holds 18,000—the real attraction is new amenities, such as green rooms, of which there are currently none, and a better sound and lighting system, not to mention the appeal of Coney Island itself and its proximity to the city.