NYC to round out skyline with tallest Ferris wheel

NEW YORK (AP) - The Big Apple is getting another "biggest": the world's tallest Ferris wheel, part of an ambitious plan to draw New Yorkers and tourists alike to the city's so-called "forgotten borough."

The 190m-tall, US$230 million (S$282 million) New York Wheel is to grace a spot in Staten Island overlooking the Statue of Liberty and the downtown Manhattan skyline, offering a singular view as it sweeps higher than other big wheels like the Singapore Flyer, the London Eye, and a "High Roller" planned for Las Vegas.

Designed to carry 1,440 passengers at a time, it's 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.

It will be "an attraction unlike any other in New York City - in fact, it will be, we think, unlike any other on the planet," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said as he unveiled the plans against the backdrop of New York Harbor. While the privately financed project faces various reviews, officials hope to have the wheel turning by the end of 2015.