City Buys 7 Acres of Joe Sitt's Coney Island

Well - its about time! New York City finally bought the heart of Coney Island, as the Times reported today.

But even though the city needed to buy Joe Sitt's Thor Equities out, it's only a first step and not enough to ensure that Coney Island stays "Coney Island". You see, Joe Sitt is that odd breed of developer who buys land and then - doesn't develop it. Instead, he sits on it until the value goes up. He's what we used to call a speculator.

This time around, the real estate market was been pretty terrible, and on this sale, Sitt was told if he didn't take the initially proffered $110 million, the price wouldn't go up, it would only go down. It did. First, it went to $105 million; then, a little more than $95 million. That's the offer Sitt took.

It's great news, but it isn't quite enough, as Save Coney Island's Juan Rivero points out in a statement issued today.

Stay tuned...