Dive Brief:

• New York City has never had an outlet mall or a giant Ferris wheel, and now it will get both.
• The New York City Council has approved a project that New York Wheel LLC. submitted for Staten Island's north shore in response to a city RFP for economic development projects.
• The 630-foot-high wheel and the 1 million-square-foot Empire Outlets mixed-use project are slated to start building next year and be done in 2016.

Dive Insight:

The Ferris wheel project has been working its way through the city process for a little over a year. It is audacious, but State Island officials expect it to bring a major economic boost to the borough. Word is that the deal moved ahead after developer BFC Partners agree to a 100% union workforce. The wheel will be built by the company that constructed the London Eye.