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After a year of delays, construction on Staten Island's giant Ferris wheel could restart soon

Wheel I'll Be

After a year of delays, construction on Staten Island's giant Ferris wheel could restart soon

Construction on Staten Island's giant Ferris wheel may finally begin again. A rendering of the New York Wheel is pictured here. (S9 Architecture/Perkins Eastman)

After delays of almost a year, Staten Island’s giant Ferris wheel is finally back on track. Earlier this month, the aggrieved parties reached a deal in court that allows construction on the New York Wheel to move forward.

The New York Wheel hired Holland’s Mammoet-Starneth to design and engineer the 630-foot-tall North Shore amusement, which sits steps away from the ferry drop-off in St. George. According to the Staten Island Advance, the company left the job on May 26, 2017, and it filed for bankruptcy five months ago. The New York Wheel fired Mammoet-Starneth from the job soon after. The two entities started mediation in March, but they weren’t able to come to an agreement in court—until now.

Among its key provisions, the new agreement vacates the lawsuit between the two companies and lets the New York Wheel hire a new contractor to finish the job. It has selected American Bridge and ARUP, the construction company and the massive engineering firm, respectively. Per the agreement, the New York Wheel has until early September to scrounge up financing for the venture—and it can cut loose from the deal if it can’t find the money. So far, the company has raised $400 million of the wheel’s $580 million estimated cost from investors, but at this point the New York Wheel is mum on how much of that money has been spent.

On the New York Wheel’s website, S9 Architecture and Perkins Eastman are listed as the architects behind the project.

The wheel is supposed to be a supposed to be a draw for New Yorkers and tourists alike, many of whom are predicted to descend upon the adjacent Empire Outlets, the city’s first outlet mall. SHoP Architects is designing that complex, which is slated for completion this fall.


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