The New York City Economic Development Corporation has tapped Coney Island-based Rybak Development to lead the next phase of the sweeping redevelopment effort in Coney Island.
The announcement comes eight months after the mayor’s office released a request for proposals for a developer to build a 500-unit project on Surf Avenue between West 21st and 22nd Streets.
The development is one piece of the city’s plans for the neighborhood, including funding affordable housing projects, a more than $1 billion investment in the historic Coney Island Boardwalk and a $42 million renovation of the Abe Stark Sports Center. Rybak’s project is part of the city’s broader effort to build nearly 10,000 housing units on city-owned land, 1,500 of which will be in Coney Island West.
“Utilizing public land for housing is a critical way to increase our supply,” NYCEDC president and CEO Andrew Kimball said in a statement.
Rybak agreed to purchase 80,000 square feet of city-owned land that is currently being used for public parking to build 505 units of mixed-income housing. The project will include 25 percent of units designated as permanently affordable, ranging from 40 percent of the area median income to 100 percent of the area median income.
Sergey Rybak, the CEO of Rybak Development, said he expects the project to cost over $350 million.
As part of the RFP, developers were required to privately finance the deal, according to Rybak, and the project will be eligible for the 485-x tax abatement. He credited the firm’s local expertise with informing how it underwrote the deal, pointing to a 499-unit rental building covering 1 million square feet down the street that launched in the last week.
“Coney Island has been historically overlooked due to the lack of new development that is comparable with other areas in Brooklyn that have buildings which are highly-amenitized and located in proximity to transportation,” Rybak said, noting that he’s planning to build out larger units which he hopes will attract Brooklynites from across the borough.
The 800,000-square-foot project will receive an additional 175,000 square feet of development rights from the neighboring Coney Island Amphitheater. The project will also include 32,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, new structured parking and 65,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities.
Rybak will be working with Brooklyn-based developer IMC Architecture and construction is expected to begin in 2027 and be completed in 2030.
A ‘neighborhood revitalization’
The announcement comes during the twilight of Mayor Erc Adams’ administration, which has eased housing restrictions through the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning reforms that are slated to enable 80,000 additional units of housing to be built throughout the city. NYCEDC chief operating officer Melissa Román Burch cited the easing of residential parking requirements as one of the features of the legislation that made the development possible.
The development, dubbed the Tilyou Towers in honor of the Steeplechase Park founder, is part of a much larger effort from the city to redevelop Coney Island using public works investments and public-private partnerships.
Rybak credited the city’s infrastructure investments with making the project workable. “This particular development is only possible due to the remapping of streets and introduction of a new street which will complete the four sides of the property as well as the needed flood and storm upgrades,” he said. “Prior to that, this amount of housing would not have been possible.”
The city has more plans to invest in the area. Its 2026 capital plan allocates over $1 billion for service improvements and construction on the beach and boardwalk through 2032.
The investment into the area has marked a turning point for the city after a 2009 rezoning yielded little in the way of housing production. “This story really goes back to an important rezoning that the NYCEDC led in 2009 that envisioned a whole neighborhood revitalization that included hundreds of millions of investment into infrastructure,” said Román Burch.
In Coney Island West, two affordable housing projects launched in 2019 and 2022 and a third is slated to open in 2028. The city has also been providing public subsidies to affordable and supportive housing projects in the area, including announcing $90 million in funding in June for a 420-unit affordable development from BFC Partners.
Rybak’s development will consist of an 11-story podium and two 28-story towers, with outdoor amenities that include an infinity-edge swimming pool, lounge, gaming area and playground.
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