WSJ Features Rye Group in Playland RFP Write-Up

In a real estate article this week in The Wall Street Journal on Playland's RFP process, a local Rye group seemed to steal most of the attention. Sustainable Playland, run by Eve Lane resident Sandhya Subbarao, captured most of the ink:

"RYE, N.Y.—When Sandhya Subbarao moved here 15 years ago, she says families heading to the Playland amusement park would clog the highway with traffic.

Now, Rye Playland attracts just half its attendance during its heyday, and Ms. Subbarao leads one of several groups that are competing to take over and rejuvenate the 83-year-old park….

Eleven groups have come back with proposals to take over the park or part of it. A county-appointed committee starts evaluating proposals next month. Most come from amusement park and fair operators.

That's not true of Ms. Subbarao's group, Sustainable Playland, a nonprofit backed by Goldman Sachs and UBS financiers who live in the area. Ms. Subbarao's motivation: She says she didn't want to see her local park turned into a over-the-top hotel or casino.

She and her husband Dhruv Narain, founder of Goldman Sachs' Special Situations Group, as well as Peter Rukeyser, a managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management, raised $150,000 from private philanthropists for their proposal. They tapped Doug McKean, a Rye architect known for his work at Grand Central Terminal in New York City, to come up with a new plan. Mr. McKean had written his Master's thesis on the reinvention of Playland in 1979. Sustainable Playland proposes continuing to operate the amusement park while spending $35 million to add year-around draws like ball fields and restaurants."