New York City will soon be getting another attraction. This time it's the world's tallest Ferris wheel, as part of an ambitious plan to draw New Yorkers and tourists to a nearby island. It's Staten Island, the city's forgotten borough.
This 230 million dollar 625-foot-tall Ferris wheel be built on a spot in Staten Island overlooking the Statue of Liberty and visible to the downtown Manhattan skyline, offering a singular view as it sweeps higher than other big wheels like the Singapore Flyer and the London Eye.
It will be designed to carry 1,440 passengers at a time and is expected to draw 4.5 million people a year to a setting that also would include a 100-shop outlet mall and a 200-room hotel.
This will be an attraction unlike any other in New York City — in fact, it will be, we think, unlike any other on the planet, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg who said the privately financed project faces various reviews and officials hope to have the wheel turning by the end of 2015.