Going to the beach is excellent, right? Yeah, we concur. Laying out on hot sand while the sun glints off the ocean is really great. Going to Coney Island, specifically? Well, that's one big ratchet blast.

We mean, there's Deno's Wonder Wheel, there are hotdogs from Nathan's, there are beers from Ruby's Bar and Grill, and there's a ton of sun and swimming.

The only thing that could make all this summer bliss even more blissful? You guessed it: a new concert venue.

According to the Brooklyn Daily, work on such a concert venue has already commenced. 

The work is controversial: it's transforming the historic Childs Restaurant in Coney Island into an amphitheater.

"It looks like they're clearing out the inside, maybe asbestos or something," said Michael Quinn, writer for The Coney Island Blog. "They're filling giant bags you'd put your laundry in."

Apparently, contractors have also knocked down a small portion of the western parapet. All this is to say: the amphitheater is really happening, even though there are plenty of people sad about the loss of Childs Restaurant.

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Former borough president Marty Markowitz has long dreamed of actualizing his passion project to build a 5,000-seat home for his summer concert series in Coney Island.

First, he thought about building the space in Asser Levy Park, but once he faced community opposition there, he backed down.

Instead, he chose the 90-year-old boardwalk adjacent to Childs Restaurant as his desired location, saying so in his 2013 State of the Borough address.

Community gardeners were subsequently evicted from a city-owned parcel near the restaurant where developers planned to build outdoor seating, and they sued.

The owners of the restaurant building, iStar Financial, plan to sell the building to the city for $53 million. The city plans to lease the building back to the developers in 2025.

The deal hasn't yet been finalized; there's no record of it on the city's registry. Still, the company has already filed for construction permits which haven't yet been approved by the city.

The project is expected to be completed this July, so for those of us without emotional ties to Childs Restaurant, it's all good. We're expecting to be sipping a beer and jamming to tunes, freshly suntanned from a day at the beach, this July.

Everyone with ties to Childs Restaurant? We're sorry about your loss. Hopefully some amazing music beside the ocean will cheer you up.

Check out Barneys New York Is Back in Chelsea and It's Friggin' Beautiful. 

[via Brooklyn Daily] [Feature Image Courtesy The Coney Island Blog]