This will make lots of heads spin.
The world’s largest Ferris wheel is the anchor of a $480 million plan unveiled Thursday to transform the Staten Island waterfront into the city’s newest tourism and shopping mecca.
And not a single dollar of public funds will be used to build this wonder, the Bloomberg administration promised.
“The New York Wheel will be an attraction unlike any other in New York City — even unlike any of the planet,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “It will offered unparalleled and breathtaking views, and is sure to become one of the premier attractions in New York City.”
At 625 feet tall, the proposed New York Wheel is 84 feet higher than the current champ — the Singapore Flyer.
It’s also taller than the High Roller wheel planned for the Las Vegas Strip, which will be 550 feet tall.
And it dwarfs the famed, 92-year-old Wonder Wheel on Coney Island, which is 150 feet tall.
The New York Wheel would be built on a 14-acre site just south of the Richmond County Bank Ballpark in the St. George section — just steps away from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.
In the city that never sleeps, this will be the Ferris wheel that almost never stops. It will be open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the fall, winter and spring, and deeper into the night during the summer.
Officials said the 38-minute ride will offer spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline and is expected to carry 4.5 million riders per year.
If all goes as planned, workers will start assembling the $230 million wheel in 2014 and it should be up and running a year later, the city said.
It was designed and will be built by Starneth, the company that built the London Eye.
The New York Wheel is part of a larger redevelopment project that includes the city’s first designer outlet mall — the 470,000-square-foot Harbor Commons retail complex, which features 100 stores and a 200-room hotel.
Seth Pinsky, president of the city’s Economic Development Corp., said the center will be a jobs and small business “incubator.”
The project will generate over 1,200 construction jobs and create 1,100 permanent jobs, he said.
“It’s a game-changer for Staten Island,” said Borough President James Molinaro. “We’ve gone from having the world’s biggest dump to having the world’s biggest wheel.”
