STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The New York Wheel -- at one time envisioned to be a catalyst for the renaissance of Staten Island’s North Shore -- will never become a reality, the Advance has learned.

“After years of planning, the developers of The New York Wheel announce, with great disappointment, that the dream of building a world class attraction in Staten Island will unfortunately not come to fruition," said Cristyne Nicholas, spokesperson for the New York Wheel.

Since the project was halted in May 2017, the NY Wheel -- a privately-funded project that has been in the works for more than five years -- had been battling in court with its former contractor Mammoet-Starneth.

Members of CanAm Enterprises, an EB-5 immigrant investor program that made a $206 million investment in the project, told the Advance on Tuesday that they will work to see their investors through the immigration process.

“CanAm Enterprises is disappointed that the corporate entity behind the New York Wheel project has informed it that they have decided to suspend all development. The company, which made a $206 million loan to the developers of the New York Wheel through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, believes that the costs incurred to date support enough EB-5 Program-qualifying jobs to meet the USCIS job creation requirements for the unconditional permanent residency for all of our 412 investors in the project,” said CanAm Enterprises in a statement.

Tom Rosenfeld, president and CEO of CanAm Enterprises, said: “CanAm, just as it always has in the past, will see our investors through their respective immigration processes. This project came very close to completion and had already fulfilled all requirements as defined by the EB-5 program. As a secured creditor, we also expect to enforce our rights and remedies including, among other things, in the collateral pledged to secure our loan.”

Said Nicholas: “The developers of The New York Wheel are proud to have delivered a state-of-the art, modern 325,000 square-foot garage structure, providing up to 950 deeply discounted commuter parking spaces, a turnaround area for 12 motor coach buses, and the MTA Railroad Right of Way decking to connect the site to Richmond Terrace, allowing pedestrian access to the waterfront along Bank Street that was previously shut off to the public."

NY WHEEL HISTORY

On Sept. 7, the embattled Wheel filed a motion for an order approving an amendment in Delaware Bankruptcy Court that -- among other things -- gave the developer a final standstill deadline of Jan. 7, 2019.

The amendment stated that no party would be allowed to seek additional extensions beyond that January deadline.

In exchange for the new standstill deadline, the amendment provided, among other things, that if the NY Wheel had not terminated the agreement by Tuesday, the developer would relinquish rights to the Wheel parts.

A source of dispute between the Wheel and its contractor had been the rights to the Wheel parts.

The developer had been paying high storage costs for the Wheel components -- close to $500,000 per month.

In an interview with the Advance last month, Jeffrey Feil of The Feil Organization, who is one of the lead investors in the project, said the NY Wheel was asking the city to provide tax exempt bonds to allow the project to move forward.

“The developers and myself are still committed to the project. We have hope the city could provide some tax-free bonds. ...We have been meeting with the city for months now and they have been throwing roadblocks up rather than helping us with this endeavor,” Feil said last month.

"But without the mayor's office and the mayor committed to this, there is no way we can proceed," said Feil, who along with Lloyd Goldman, a New York real estate developer and founder of BLDG Management, have taken the reins of the project since Rich Marin, co-founder of the New York Wheel, took a lesser role in the organization last year.

While the project was being built on city-owned land, it had been fully funded by private investors, and through CanAm’s Eb-5 program, which allows foreign investors to fund a project in exchange for help facilitating their green cards.

A total of $450 million of private money had already been invested in the NY Wheel. The cost of the project was estimated at nearly $1 billion, according to sources.

“The NY Wheel was an ambitious venture. While the developers were unable to secure the necessary funding for this project, the city is committed to working with the community and local stakeholders to determine potential uses for the Wheel site,” said Stephanie Báez, senior vice president of public affairs for the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).

BREAKING: NY Wheel is dead! So what’s next?🎡 Posted by Staten Island Advance on Tuesday, October 23, 2018

DE BLASIO CALLED PROJECT NOT ECONOMICALLY VIABLE

De Blasio said last month he didn’t think the Wheel was going to be an economically viable project, and therefore refused to float the non-taxable bonds the company was seeking.

But if the New York Wheel had been willing to put forth a plan that had not involved tax-free financing from the city, the mayor said he would have been willing to consider hearing the developers out again.

“It’s the kind of tax-free bond financing that we would reserve only for situations that we felt were smart investments for the city and that were economically viable projects,” de Blasio said at a press conference in the Bronx last month. “And so far, what we’ve seen in this case, unfortunately is a project that is not going to be economically viable.”

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