Dive Brief:
- Despite legal and budgetary problems, construction of the now-$550 million, 630-foot tall Staten Island ferris wheel will begin in June, the project's CEO Richard Marin told the New York Business Journal.
- The original budget for the planned New York Wheel tourist attraction was $250 million, but Marin said the project's "scale" has made engineering and construction complex.
- Two members of the New York Wheel board are suing Marin for his alleged mismanagement of the project, while Marin and yet another board member are countersuing for an extra $17 million that Marin said the two owe the project as board members.
Dive Insight:
Marin said the project is pushing ahead, and officials hope the "next global icon" will rival the London Eye and Empire State Building in tourist patronage and revenue. Despite the ongoing delays, the Wheel "is indeed getting built and it will become a very special attraction for New York City," Marin told the Business Journal.
In another part of New York City — Manhattan's Hudson Yards — there is another plan underway to create what a developer called the Eiffel Tower of New York, a $200 million sculpture that is the planned centerpiece of the West Side mixed-use development. Hudson Yards developer Stephen Ross of Related Companies said the piece is "bold and iconic," but he won't reveal the design until later this year. Ross added that the Thomas Heatherwick work of art will be placed on a plaza "bigger than Trafalgar Square."
Another sculpture-like addition to Manhattan is the Oculus, the World Trade Center transportation hub centerpiece, a dove-shaped tribute to those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Skanska-built Oculus is comprised of 11,500 tons of structural steel and glass and features a retractable roof that opens during good weather and on Sept. 11 each year.
