Is there anything gazillionaire developer Joe "Coney Island Grinch" Sitt can't turn to crap with a wave of his gold card? Having finished holding the Coney Island amusement district hostage, Sitt's dreaming up the future of Red Hook, where he owns land between the Ikea and the Fairway. Both were controversial additions to the sleepy, cobblestone waterfront, which was most recently besieged by the cast of MTV's The Real World. Sitt's latest idea for a neighborhood so full of potential and diminishing returns? Dorms, dude.
"Ask any university, they’re starving for student housing," Sitt told a monthly gathering of real estate executives on Tuesday at the Brooklyn Historical Society. "[It could be] quasi-residential student housing if we can tempt a nearby university." Last we heard about this property, which once housed the now-demolished Revere Sugar factory, Sitt was envisioning a mega-mall with a BJ's as the anchor (eliciting plenty of puerile chortling from some about Red Hook getting BJ's, tee-hee). However, that plan was cock-blocked due to "structural problems with the remaining edifice on the site," according to The Brooklyn Paper.
Sitt just needs the land re-zoned before he can develop a new home for the backwards baseball cap set. We have to admit, the spot seems kind of ideal, what with all that cheap IKEA furniture right next door. But if these kids start demanding Irish Car Bombs at Sunny's, it's war.
