Ruby’s Bar and Grill is among six restaurants facing massive rent hikes in January. Photo by Rose Adams
Playground for the rich
Coney Island businesses face massive rent hike
COURIER LIFE, NOV. 22-28, 2019 3
BY ROSE ADAMS
Six small businesses located
in the Coney Island
amusement district may be
forced to close shop in the face
of astronomical rent increases
expected at the beginning of
next year, according to one local
lawmaker.
“If Zamperla proceeds
with the drastic proposal, this
would be the end of mom ‘n’
pop shops,” said Coney Island
Councilman Mark Treyger.
Business owners have just
a few weeks to decide whether
to abandon their longtime
storefronts on the Riegelmann
Boardwalk, when their 10 year
leases expire in January and
Zamperla — a company which
operates most of the amusement
park and the Coney Island
Boardwalk on behalf of
the city — plans to increase
the area’s rent by a whopping
500-percent, according to a
Nov. 14 report by the Coney Island
Blog.
“With an insane 500-percent
rent increase expect all
of your favorite longtime businesses
on the boardwalk to be
replaced by Dave and Busters,
Buffalo Wild Wings, as well as
the Cheesecake Factory!” the
post reads.
Among the businesses expected
to be hit hard by the
lease renewals are Coney Island
institutions Ruby’s Bar
and Grill and Tom’s Restaurant
— which opened in 1934
and 1936 respectively! A source
close to the owners, who are
bound by non-disclosure
agreements with Zamperla,
told Brooklyn Paper that both
80-year mainstays will likely
shutdown as a result.
Another source who spoke
on condition of anonymity contradicted
reports that Ruby’s
would close, while noting that
the 500 percent rent increase
fi gure was exaggerated.
If Ruby’s does close, it
wouldn’t be the fi rst time
Zamperla used a pending
lease renewal to force out Coney
Island’s oldest watering
hole, The company tried —
and failed — to oust Ruby’s
in 2010 along with eight other
boardwalk businesses, but
the amusement company was
forced to back down in the face
of overwhelming public pressure.
Meanwhile, one local hotdog
purveyor and outspoken
critic of the international
amusement corporation,
Feltman Hotdogs owner Michael
Quinn, said rents are
already sky-high for the seasonal
stores, which only operate
during the late spring and
summer.
“I have one friend and his
business was seasonal, and he
was paying $170,000 per year,”
Quinn said, adding that CAI
also takes 10-percent of sales
from all its tenants.
Quinn went on to slam
Zamperla for requiring vendors
to sign non-disclosure
agreements, and accused the
amusement park executives
of welching on their contracts
with lease holders. The hotdog
purveyor claims that his
brother gave CAI thousands
of dollars so that the company
would distribute Feltman’s
hotdogs at Luna Park’s stands
and kiosks, but the corporation
violated the terms of
their licensing agreement by
failing to install the proper
signage and serving customers
cold, unsavory hotdogs,
among other complaints,
Quinn said.
“My brother and I wanted
so badly to bring Feltman’s
hotdogs back,” Quinn said.
“They had no one managing
the place…the whole thing
was an absolute s–t show.”
Diana Carlin, the owner of
local souvenir store, surf shop,
and roller rink Lola Star, declined
to comment regarding
the rent hikes and closings,
but the rink owner expressed
concern on Instagram about
the state of Coney businesses
in general, and noted that
she’s revived a local business
advocacy group, Save Coney
Island, as a result.
‘The time has come to resurrect
the Save Coney Island Organization.
I regret that I ever
felt confi dent enough in Coney
Island’s future that I let it go,”
read a Nov. 13 post on Lola Star’s
Instagram page. “I created this
nonprofi t in 2007 to preserve
the Spirit of Coney Island…As
that Spirit is challenged again
it’s time to rev that engine back
up and fi ght to save the Spirit of
Coney Island!”
CAI did not comment on
the rent hikes. Ruby’s and
Tom’s did not return multiple
requests for comment.