ST. GEORGE — The New York Wheel's developers will crowdfund a portion of the nearly $500 million needed to put the tourist attraction on Staten Island's waterfront.
The under-construction 630-foot-tall observation wheel has already had about $450 million invested in it. It's developers have now partnered with broker-dealer North Capital Private Securities to raise an additional $30 million through various methods, including selling shares through crowdfunding websites like 99Funding, the New York Times first reported.
“We are pursuing several channels for fundraising simultaneously," Rich Marin, CEO of the New York Wheel, said in a statement.
"Crowdfunding is one such channel and we feel that it has evolved over the past few years to a point where our project can benefit. We believe that the democratization of finance through efforts like crowdfunding is a good fit for a large populist attraction like New York Wheel.”
While the the wheel will still sell shares through the traditional broker method, they'll also offer up some on 99Funding — which is owned by North Capital — for a 90-day period, Jim Dowd, founder and CEO of North Capital, told the Times.
The New York Wheel — which started construction this summer — is estimated to be completed in 2017.
Changes to the design of parking facilities and other aspects of the site were approved by the community board in July and the city's Design Commission will hold a public meeting about the changes on Wednesday afternoon.
