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Post by mikecubs on Dec 27, 2017 7:46:58 GMT -6
Islanders heading back to Long Island with new arena at Belmont ParkBye, bye, Brooklyn. Hello, Belmont. The New York Islanders made their homecoming official Wednesday, announcing a deal with the state to pay for a new arena at Belmont Raceway and face off once again in Nassau County. “When the Islanders left, they left a hole in the heart of Long Island,” Gov. Cuomo said Wednesday at a star-studded raceway announcement. “Today is a win-win-win for the community. (Belmont Park) is an asset that has been underutilized for years. It’s a big win for the fans. This will be more of a full-game experience. It’s a win for the team. They will have their own arena — a full, 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, designed by the Islanders.” Cuomo was joined by current and former Islanders players including team captain John Tavares. The governor signed hockey pucks with a Sharpie, and posed for pictures holding jerseys with Long Island’s own Billy Joel. According to the governor’s office, the $1 billion redevelopment of Belmont Park will be privately funded by the Islanders and the Oak View Group, whose investors include Madison Square Garden Co., owned by James Dolan, and Mets owner Sterling Equities, which was founded by Fred Wilpon. The Islanders will have a 49-year lease with renewal options, valued at $40 million. Anchoring the new project will be an 18,000-seat arena that will host other events, including concerts, college sports and conferences. The development will feature a full-service hotel with views of the iconic racetrack, which is home to the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. “For our fans, this day is for you,” said Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky. “You’ve been passionate supporters of the team, both on and off the ice. Today is a huge day for this franchise and you deserve it more than anyone else.” Not since the Islanders won the last of four Stanley Cups in a row in 1983 have Nassau and Suffolk county fans been so excited about their team. Since 1972, the team had played in Nassau Coliseum before a 2015 move to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The Islanders hope to break ground on the arena in the spring of 2018, with the building expected to open in 2020.But eager fans may not have to wait that long to see the team skate on Long Island ice. Cuomo has asked NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to allow the Islanders to play some home games at Nassau Coliseum until the new site at Belmont is completed. www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/islanders/islanders-heading-back-long-island-belmont-park-arena-article-1.3712171
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Post by mikecubs on Dec 27, 2017 7:52:10 GMT -6
The article says it will seat 18,000 but I think that is for concerts. I heard it will only seat 16,500 making it the second smallest arena in the league. I bet the won't come close to filling it because I don't think there are that many Islander fans.
Also where are they going to get the corporate support moving back to the suburbs?
Bettman is thrilled by this. No Quebec plus another suburban arena!!!!! It don't get no better than that.
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Post by mikecubs on Dec 27, 2017 7:53:09 GMT -6
Isles’ “privately funded” arena could get cheap land, new rail line at taxpayer expensePosted on December 21, 2017 by Neil deMause It’s official: A development consortium made up of the owners of the New York Islanders, Sterling Equities (owners of the Mets), Madison Square Garden (owner of the Knicks and Rangers), and Oak View Group (builders of Seattle’s renovated KeyArena) won permission to build a new hockey arena and mixed-use development in a parking lot adjacent to the state-owned Belmont Park racetrack. And while Islanders owner Jon Ledecky declined to say how much the arena would cost, he did promise, “We’re not looking for government funds.” We have heard that before, though, and it doesn’t always work out so well — remember that a Yankees exec promised that that team’s new stadium would be built with “no public subsidies,” and then it wound up getting more than a billion dollars worth. And while there’s no sign that the Islanders deal will turn out to be the biggest sports handout in history like that one did, there are several places where it could end up tapping significant public dollars. For starters, the Islanders group will be leasing the Belmont Park land from the state, so as I noted yesterday, one big question is whether they’ll pay full market value. And the answer appears to be not by a long shot: Randi Marshall ✔ @randimarshall On finances: New York Arena Partners - group includes #isles, Sterling and Oak View - will finance the entire project - $1 billion total. They'll get a 49 yr lease and will pay $40 mil in rent. 12:35 PM - Dec 20, 2017 22 22 Replies 93 93 Retweets 160 160 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy 20 Dec B2 @nyscene911 Replying to @randimarshall $40mil per year? Randi Marshall ✔ @randimarshall No. Total, from what I can tell. Am double checking. 12:41 PM - Dec 20, 2017 3 3 Replies Retweets 1 1 like Twitter Ads info and privacy Marshall, who is a member of Newsday’s editorial board, hasn’t circled back to confirm this yet (UPDATE: Norman Oder tweets that the state has confirmed to him that it’s just $40 million total), but assuming she’s correct, $40 million over 49 years is an absolutely pathetic payment for 43 acres of land. That’s maybe $10-15 million in present value — here’s a tenth-of-an-acre vacant lot in nearby Floral Park that’s going for $729,000, which would imply that the Belmont Park property should be worth around $313 million, or more than 20 times what the Islanders are paying for it. (If you use this exceptionally hideous lot as a comparable instead, it’s only worth six times what the Islanders are paying, but that’s still not good.) (UPDATE #2: Oder has updated his Bridge article to note that the state says $40 million is “the upfront value over the term of the lease for the build out” — he sent me this quote from a state spokesperson, it’s not in the article verbatim. So if it’s lease payments worth $40 million in present value, that’d amount to a taxpayer-subsidized discount of between $44 million and $273 million, depending on which nearby Zillow listing you go by.) Marshall also notes that since the land will continue to be owned by the state, it won’t pay property taxes, but will instead pay payments in lieu of property taxes, aka PILOTs, and whether those will be as much as regular taxpayers would pay is “to be determined.” And if $300 million in lease breaks isn’t worrisome enough, there’s also the matter of getting fans to the new arena, which is currently served only by a part-time rail spur off the Long Island Rail Road, something the state has promised to upgrade to full-time service at taxpayer expense. How much taxpayer expense? As Aaron Gordon reports for the Village Voice, even the state doesn’t know: Despite the LIRR committing to “developing a plan to expand LIRR service to Belmont Park Station for events year-round,” according to the press release, a spokesperson for the MTA, which runs the LIRR, said the agency doesn’t have any accompanying cost estimates. Which is to say, the MTA has promised to provide a service for which they don’t know the actual cost. So there are a lot of unknowns here, to say the least — and that’s if the Islanders even go ahead with the arena, which they’re sure acting like they will, but it’s an awfully expensive endeavor even with partners who have an incentive to pound the owners of the Barclays Center into dust by outmaneuvering them for concerts. (The Barclays group also operates the newly renovated Nassau Coliseum, which could be odd arena out for bookings if the Belmont arena happens.) Though the Barclays owners, for their part, seem less concerned about facing new competition than eager to get the Islanders away from taking up space at the Brooklyn arena and into their other venue on a temporary basis: Jim Baumbach ✔ @jimbaumbach Barclays Center “awaiting a response from the Islanders to our proposal to bring NHL games back home to the Coliseum on an interim basis. We understand the required approvals from all parties involved to make that happen, and are prepared to facilitate any necessary enhancements. 11:22 AM - Dec 20, 2017 17 17 Replies 41 41 Retweets 78 78 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy There are many, many shoes left to drop here. Let’s hope against hope that when it all shakes out, this looks more like the Seattle arena deal than the Yankees one, but I’m not holding my breath. And, almost forgot: renderings! Renderings that look like they were done with a cheap tray of watercolors and no lessons in perspective (I especially like the building that bends in the middle, like the top part is toppling over), but given that “blurry” seems to be the name of the game with this project, it’s probably appropriate: www.fieldofschemes.com/2017/12/21/13263/isles-privately-funded-arena-could-get-cheap-land-new-rail-line-at-taxpayer-expense/#comments
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Post by mikecubs on Dec 27, 2017 7:53:44 GMT -6
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Post by mikecubs on Jan 25, 2018 3:09:06 GMT -6
Report: Islanders Close to Deal for Nassau Coliseumby Zach Spedden on January 24, 2018 in Hockey, NHL New York Islanders The New York Islanders are reportedly close to an agreement to play games at the Nassau Coliseum in the coming seasons, making it a temporary venue as the team awaits a new arena. The Islanders’ bid to build a new arena at Belmont Park was recently approved but, with the 2021-22 NHL season likely being the earliest that the new arena would open, the club has been left with a decision to make regarding the next few seasons. It appears that the team is closing in on a solution, as Newsday reports that the Islanders are on the verge of an agreement to play home games at both the Nasssau Coliseum and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in the coming years. No official announcement has been made, but the terms of the agreement are expected to call for the Islanders to play 12 games at the Coliseum next season. Provided that that arrangement goes well, the Islanders would play roughly half of their regular-season schedules at the venue over the following years. The Islanders have been negotiating with Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, which operates both arenas, in the weeks since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the Islanders’ bid to develop an arena at Belmont was selected as the winner. The Islanders and Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment have until Jan. 30 to complete the opt-out process. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly deferred questions to the Islanders, who declined to comment, as did Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. Sources said Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment’s preference is for the Islanders to play all their games in future seasons at the Coliseum, but the Islanders and the NHL have long resisted that idea.Nassau Coliseum was home to the Islanders from 1972-2015, and reopened in 2017 after an extensive renovation. Since reopening, it has been under a naming rights agreement that makes it known as NYCB Live, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and now features a seating capacity of 13,900 for hockey, a decrease from the roughly 17,000 it seated previously. arenadigest.com/2018/01/24/report-islanders-close-deal-nassau-coliseum/
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Post by mikecubs on Jan 30, 2018 1:24:20 GMT -6
Islanders to play 12 home games at Nassau Coliseum during 2018-19 regular seasonEver since the New York Islanders relocated to Brooklyn's Barclays Center in 2015, many of their die-hard fans have clamored for an eventual return to their first home, the 46-year-old Nassau Coliseum. Those prayers have finally been answered -- on a temporary and part-time basis. For at least the next three seasons, the Islanders will split their home games between Barclays and Nassau while a new arena is constructed at Belmont Park racetrack. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the team will play half of their 120 home games at each arena ahead of the new building's expected opening in three years. The Islanders confirmed that 12 of their 41 regular-season home games in 2018-19 will be played at Nassau Coliseum. Both Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum are owned by Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. "Long Island's Islanders. That's who they are, that's where they belong and that's where they'll be," said Cuomo at a media event on Monday. Cuomo said that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman toured Nassau Coliseum last year and said that it wasn't suitable for an NHL team. Cuomo said the Coliseum promised to make "basic structural modifications" to fit the League's specifications, including improving the facility's ice-making capabilities. The Islanders' first game back at Nassau Coliseum could come as early as September, provided those upgrades are completed. The Islanders had until Tuesday to opt out of their 25-year lease with Barclays Center, an arena many Islanders fans took issue with in the team's three seasons there. Barclays Center wasn't built for hockey -- hundreds of seats had obstructed views of the ice, the scoreboard above the rink was off-center and the stands were structured with gaps between fans and the boards so large that the arena used it to advertise sports utility vehicles during games. Since the Islanders left, Nassau Coliseum has undergone a major renovation that reduced its capacity to roughly 13,000 seats for hockey, making it the smallest capacity arena to house an NHL team. Barclays Center holds 15,795 for hockey, while Winnipeg's MTS Centre holds 15,321. The Islanders won a bid in December to build a 18,000-seat arena that would host around 150 events each year, as well as a hotel, a retail village and a 10,000-square-foot "innovation center" that will be developed with the community. The team is partnering with Sterling Project Development -- run by the Wilpon family, which owns the New York Mets -- and Oak View Group, which is also spearheading the redevelopment of KeyArena in Seattle for potential NHL expansion. The arena deal was expected to keep the team's star center with the franchise, as John Tavares is scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency this July. But Tavares said he's also excited to get back to the old barn. "The Coliseum is a special place. We had an exhibition game there this year and it brought back a lot of great memories. For me, it's where I started my career, it's where so many great things have happened. I really haven't thought about it a whole lot. But I've always said the team belongs on Long Island. It's where the team was born, created its identity," he said at the NHL All-Star Game in Tampa, via Newsday. "It's going to be a great opportunity, a great experience to go back there and to relive, and create some more, great history." www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/22254786/new-york-islanders-split-home-games-nassau-coliseum-barclays
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Post by mikecubs on Feb 1, 2018 10:41:49 GMT -6
Getting LIRR to Isles Arena Could Require Bending Space-Time Running direct service from Long Island to Belmont Park would be like doing a three-point turn in the middle of a highway, but with a train
The MTA is finally acknowledging what anyone with Google Maps can see for themselves: The massive Belmont Park redevelopment project and future home of the New York Islanders cannot easily accommodate frequent train service from Long Island. Last month, Governor Cuomo and a gaggle from the Long Island business and real estate community held a triumphant press conference proclaiming the pending return of the Islanders to Long Island after two-plus seasons in Brooklyn. Specifically, the announcement proclaimed that the bidding group that included the Islanders’ owners had won the rights to develop land adjacent to Belmont Park, just east of the Queens-Nassau border, with an 18,000-seat arena, retail space, a movie theater, and a hotel. At the time, Cuomo’s office issued a press release stating that as part of the deal, the MTA had committed to “developing a plan to expand LIRR service to Belmont Park Station for events year-round,” but offered nothing in the way of detail. Currently, Belmont Park is served by a short one-stop spur off the LIRR’s Hempstead branch that only sees trains on event days. And trains only run to and from Jamaica station, meaning riders coming from points east — such as anywhere in Long Island, where Islanders fans are most likely to come from — have to transfer at Jamaica before doubling back on a shuttle to Belmont. This wasn’t good enough for Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky. Earlier this month, he spelled out that LIRR service should not merely be on event dates, but year-round and with regular service. He considers mass transit service to Belmont “a vital part of the community, not just when there is horse racing and not just when there is a concert or a game. All the time.” Politicians agreed, with Rep. Todd Kaminsky tweeting, “A full time LIRR station at Belmont w/ expanded service is key for Belmont community & to reduce Isles traffic,” while New York City Council representative Barry Grodenchik echoed his concerns: “Any expansion at #Belmontpark must be accompanied by a serious expansion of @lirr service for residents on both sides of #Queens #Nassau border.” But, as I wrote for this website shortly after the project’s unveiling, the MTA had no estimate of what that would cost. And now, it turns out that with the LIRR tracks configured as they are, full-time service to and from Long Island may not be possible at all.The first hint of trouble came at last week’s MTA hearing, when chair Joe Lhota said he was “concerned” about the LIRR service expansion for two reasons. First, the LIRR main line, which runs parallel to the Hempstead branch at this part of the network, is already at capacity during rush hour, when most Islanders games would be played. The second reason, though, is that the track design itself prevents Belmont Park from acting as a normal train station.The Belmont Park spur, says David Clarke, the director of the Center for Transportation Research at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is what’s called a “Y” connection because of the track design: Currently, the tracks are set up only for use of the left-hand, western side of the Y, allowing trains to run to and from Jamaica. A series of switches allow trains on that side of the Y connection to get to whatever track they need. And since the trains can wait on the Belmont spur until the coast is clear and switches are enabled, service isn’t disrupted. Recent satellite images show that the right side of the Y connection, the one that could provide easy access to the Hempstead line going towards Long Island, is not in service. (It appears to be used as rail car storage.) So at least one necessary upgrade requires getting that other half of the connection into working order. But even then, Belmont will have service in only one direction: from the city to Belmont, and from Belmont to Long Island. How can the LIRR provide service going to the arena from Long Island, as most Islanders fans will want, which doesn’t require a transfer at Jamaica?[/u] Currently, Clarke says, there are no switches east of Belmont that allow trains to navigate the tracks in such a way that allow them to get to Belmont. The only option using existing infrastructure would be, as Clarke put it, to “zigzag”: overshoot the Y connection by a few hundred feet and then reverse across the switches to get to the Belmont spur. It would be like a three-point turn in the middle of a highway, but for a train. For this reason, Clarke added, “they probably wouldn’t want to do that, especially if this is a really busy corridor.” The only solution, then, would be to build switches on the Long Island side of the Y connection. But this isn’t as easy as it sounds. First of all, switches can’t be installed just east of the Y connection because the tracks cross over the Cross Island Parkway there, and according to Clarke it’s not good practice to build switches on bridges. And the farther east from the Y connection you put the switches, the dicier it gets, because it means more time the train is running westbound on eastbound tracks. Moreover, there isn’t very much space around these tracks for installing necessary infrastructure like control towers and power boxes to operate the switches. Plus, because the LIRR is a commuter rail line, the switches would have to be incorporated into the system’s developing positive train control technology, which the LIRR is already way behind on installing. Clarke estimated the cost for these switches is “not the kind of thing that’s trivial as an investment.” He estimated a price tag of several million dollars just to purchase the switches for crossing over from one track to the other. Assuming the LIRR doesn’t want to undertake this project, either due to the cost or the complexity of operating this service, there’s still the option of running trains in one direction. But another problem with that plan relates to the switch issue above. The eastbound tracks off the Y connection lead onto the Hempstead branch, a fairly minor line that splits off to the east; there’s no easy way to get trains onto the tracks that lead to the main line serving the rest of Long Island. The only two stops before the split, Bellerose and Floral Park, are not serviced by main line trains. Bellerose cannot act as a transfer point because it doesn’t even have a platform for the main line. Floral Park could, in theory, act as a transfer point, but it would need to be renovated to handle the crowds and the LIRR schedule would have to be adjusted. Absent that, there are two potential solutions to allow trains leaving Belmont to run on the main line to the rest of Long Island, and they’re going to sound familiar: the zigzag maneuver or new switches. Even if the LIRR could enact any of these solutions, it’s not clear they’re much of an improvement over the current state of service at Belmont. Almost everyone would still have to transfer, and at a much less convenient location. At least Jamaica is already a major transfer hub where passengers can access the entire LIRR system, not to mention the J and E subway lines. Certainly, Islanders fans anticipating one-seat train service (as they’ve had for the games at the Barclays Center) might be disappointed, but they’ll have plenty of time to adjust. Over the next three years, the Islanders will play 60 home games at Nassau Coliseum, a refurbished version of the arena they abandoned to play at Barclays in the first place, which requires a bus or taxi to access from the nearest LIRR station. And while Belmont LIRR service is likely to be inconvenient, it’s hard to imagine the Islanders’ owners willing to make enough of a stink about it to jeopardize the entire project. The LIRR has more important priorities. “Nothing’s impossible,” Clarke concluded about full-time LIRR service at Belmont. “If there’s enough demand they can probably do it, but if they’re just trying to do it for convenience of a few people riding to get to the stadium … I would bet it’s not the kind of thing they’re going to be real enthusiastic about doing.” www.villagevoice.com/2018/01/30/getting-lirr-to-isles-arena-could-require-bending-space-time/
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Post by Bruinsfan on Feb 27, 2018 18:40:31 GMT -6
REmote arena, and "Investment Group" ownership. of 7-10 sort of millionaires and a bank that takes on nhl debt. gotta love bettmans system of crap.
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Post by mikecubs on Feb 28, 2018 8:01:42 GMT -6
REmote arena, and "Investment Group" ownership. of 7-10 sort of millionaires and a bank that takes on nhl debt. gotta love bettmans system of crap. Bettman's crap never ends. What gets me with the Islanders is the area has 2 other teams. If the Islanders left very few would miss them. Quebec City supposedly brings "nothing" and is covered by Montreal yet New York MUST 3 teams at all cost.
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Post by mikecubs on Oct 12, 2018 15:40:34 GMT -6
Ledecky: Islanders Belmont Park Arena Construction Expected to Start in Mayby Zach Spedden on October 12, 2018 in Hockey, NHL New York Islanders Construction on a New York Islanders Belmont Park arena is expected to begin in May and be completed in 2021, according to team co-owner Jon Ledecky. In December, Empire State Development chose a bid from a contingent that includes the Islanders, Oak View Group, and Sterling Project Development to redevelop land at Belmont Park with a new arena and surrounding development. Planning for that project is currently underway, with the Islanders hoping to complete construction on a new arena in time for the 2021-22 NHL season. Work is taking place on an environmental impact report, while the project still has to gain final approval before moving forward. Should all of the necessary approvals be granted, Ledecky expects that construction on the venue will start in May 2019, putting it in a position to be ready in time for the 2021-22 campaign. More from Newsday: Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky said he expects construction on the team’s arena at Belmont Park to begin in May while adding that he is taking the community’s concerns “very seriously.” “I think when you’re building a project of that scale, you want to make sure all the different groups have input, whether it’s business groups, community groups, residents,” Ledecky told Newsday on Thursday at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow following a news conference to announce the organization will partner with LGBT Network for an anti-bullying initiative in more than 200 Long Island and New York City schools…. Once all the approvals are granted, Ledecky said he expects shovels to be in the ground in May 2019 and the arena to open on schedule in October 2021. Empire State Development officials have said an environmental impact report is due out before the end of the year and that residents will have a chance to comment on it. In a statement released Thursday night, Empire State Development said they’ve “fostered robust community engagement at every step of the Belmont Park redevelopment process, and the project has been refined and improved as a result. Through community meetings, and careful review and response to all public comments, we have and will continue to listen to those who will be most affected by this project. The New York Islanders and all of our development partners share our interest in hearing from the community as we engage a variety of stakeholders throughout this processs.” While awaiting the new Belmont Park arena, the Islanders will split home games in the next three seasons between Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Barclays Center has been the team’s home since 2015, while the Coliseum hosted the club from 1972-2015 and reopened last year after undergoing an extensive renovation. arenadigest.com/2018/10/12/ledecky-islanders-belmont-park-arena-construction-expected-start-may/
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Post by wolfmannick on Oct 12, 2018 15:59:59 GMT -6
So seeing as they drew like 8,000 fans for their home opener. What happens if this arena is as much of a bust as Brooklyn and they still can bring fans in?
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Post by mikecubs on Oct 13, 2018 6:25:31 GMT -6
So seeing as they drew like 8,000 fans for their home opener. What happens if this arena is as much of a bust as Brooklyn and they still can bring fans in? The only solution would be another new arena My impression is that they are going to try and live off the development around the arena and concerts.
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Post by mikecubs on Feb 27, 2019 8:07:52 GMT -6
Is The New $1 Billion NY Islanders Development About To Get Amazon'd?Even as the New York Islanders confuse their fans with plans to play some home playoff games in Nassau County and some in Brooklyn, the team's ownership has been quietly moving ahead with plans to build a new arena halfway in between, as part of an $1.18 billion project that would include a hotel and retail complex on state-owned land at Belmont Park. But in recent days, there have been indications that the plan may have hit choppy waters — thanks in part, of all things, to Amazon. Though state officials say the project remains on track for a fall 2021 opening, the Great Amazon Kerfuffle has now earned State Senator Leroy Comrie a nomination on the same Public Authorities Control Board that helped scare off Amazon from Long Island City. And with Comrie insisting that he won't allow the arena to move forward unless the Islanders owners agree to pay for pricey traffic and transit upgrades to the site, this potentially sets up another high-stakes showdown over a major development project backed by the governor. This story begins way back in 2011, Nassau County voters resoundingly rejected spending $400 million on a rehab of the Nassau Coliseum, the Islanders' home since the 1970s. One year later, then-Islanders owner Charles Wang responded by announcing he'd be uprooting the team from its namesake island and relocating it to the Nets' new arena in Brooklyn—where ever since 2015, the Isles have played to disappointing crowds in an arena specifically designed without hockey in mind. As the Islanders' new owners, Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin, have attempted to make the best of a bad situation—most recently by returning to their old home at Nassau Coliseum part-time, a strategy that has pleased no one—they've been moving ahead with plans for a new arena that would literally split the difference between the team's traditional Long Island fan base and the metropolis that first lured Wang. The Belmont Park arena plan was granted preliminary approval by the state-run Empire State Development corporation back in 2017, and has been working its way through the public oversight process ever since, amid persistent protests by community groups who say they don't want the traffic and transit headaches the arena would bring, as well as concerns that the state land being provided for the project could be worth three to eight times as much as the Islanders group's $40 million offer. The first indication of trouble came last month, when state senator Leroy Comrie, whose district abuts the racetrack site and the neighboring town of Elmont, issued a five-point list of "essential points must be addressed before the ultimate fate of the project is decided." Among Comrie's demands: expanding the part-time LIRR spur to Belmont Park to full-time service to points both east and west, at the developer's expense; expanding the Cross Island Parkway to accommodate additional traffic; and implementing concrete transportation and community hiring plans.Comrie's letter simmered for weeks without receiving a formal response. (The senator tells Gothamist that ESD privately promised it would look into his concerns.) Then last Thursday—coincidentally or not—ESD unexpectedly announced that it would be extending the public comment period on the plan until March 1st, with the project’s long-awaited its environmental impact statement not set to be finalized until the end of June at the earliest. This in itself wasn’t technically a change of plans: ESD had previously estimated that the statement would be ready in the second quarter of 2019, so late June would still hit the mark. But the agency had projected that construction would begin in the second quarter as well, which now seems impossible: Once the impact statement is complete, the ESD board, Public Authorities Control Board, and state attorney general and comptroller still need to chime in as well—plus ESD has promised a formal appraisal of the value of that state-owned land once the EIS is complete. All that will take time, meaning any groundbreaking will now have to wait until summer at best.
Or, as Tammie Williams of the Belmont Park Community Coalition, the main local group opposing the arena project, put it: "Now you're telling me that a report is not going to be out till the end of June. But then you still have to put out the finding statement, and then you still have to wait for people to sue your ass." ESD, for its part, insists that last week's announcement was not a delay, as there was never a formal plan to put shovels to earth before the summer. "Last week, we reiterated the same timeline we’ve had since the beginning of this project, and we still anticipate final public approval in the second quarter of 2019," says ESD spokesperson Jack Sterne. "In the meantime, we continue to explore the possibility of a full-time train station at Belmont." (ESD did not respond to queries on how long it would take after the EIS to finalize approval by the PACB and other agencies and officials.) The timeline was further complicated last weekend when senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins announced that she was withdrawing her nominee for the PACB, State Senator Michael Gianaris, fuming in an open letter to Governor Cuomo that "it is clear that you do not intend to confirm my appointment of Senator Gianaris." (The PACB met last week with its lame-duck Republican senate appointee still seated, and Cuomo's budget director lashed out at Gianaris on Friday, saying that "of course the Governor would never accept a Senate nomination of an opponent" of the now-dead Amazon project in Queens.) Stewart-Cousins' new pick: Leroy Comrie, handing the longtime city pol the perfect platform to raise his objections to the Islanders project, much as Gianaris did with Amazon before him. Comrie says he doesn't think his requests should be a major stumbling block: “I’m very confident that these are resolvable." Still, he adds, he doesn't anticipate anything being finalized for months after the final EIS is released — and possibly not until "the first quarter of next year." But meeting Comrie's demands for new public transit, in particular, could be more complicated than it sounds. While the MTA has said it intends to "develop a plan" for full-time service to Belmont Park, the actual geometry of the site's tracks makes that nearly impossible—or at least prohibitively expensive. MTA board member Mitch Pally tells Gothamist that the LIRR had determined that one rehab option would cost $300 million for new tracks, signals, and platforms—a staggering figure for either the MTA or the Islanders owners to cover.More specific answers to all these questions would presumably be addressed in the project's transportation plan. But despite ESD initially saying it would have one in place by last September, all that’s been produced is a section of the draft EIS released in December that laid out how the project would impact local traffic and transit, but was light on ways to address it; and a set of Powerpoint slides the following month whose highlights included such bullet points as "promote and encourage rideshare, carpool, and transit" and "encourage fans to arrive early and stay late." (ESD says an updated plan will be included in its final environmental impact statement.) "We still haven't received a transportation plan," insists Williams. And she adds that she doesn’t expect any plan to emerge that involves full-time LIRR service in the near future: "MTA said to us, 'That crap ain't happening.'" MTA officials did not immediately respond to queries on whether that crap is happening. gothamist.com/2019/02/26/ny_islanders_project_get_amazond.php
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Post by mikecubs on Sept 24, 2019 14:07:37 GMT -6
Belmont Arena Groundbreaking: Islanders, Bettman, Cuomo, Anders Lee celebrate 53 Also: Seven additional games at the Coliseum this season.The New York Islanders, developers of the arena and retail project at Belmont Park, and politicians and league officials celebrated a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new arena Monday. They also included a little bit of news affecting this season’s schedule. An enthusiastic Gov. Andrew Cuomo kicked things off by calling it a transformative project, while jokingly threatening commissioner Gary Bettman with the New York State Police if the “man of his word” league head couldn’t guarantee more games at Nassau Coliseum. “God bless other parts where they play but there’s no place like Long Island” for the Islanders, Cuomo said. When Bettman’s turn came, he said the Islanders would play seven more games than planned at the Coliseum, bringing the total (regular season) to 28 for 2019-20. “When people look at the history of the Islanders, it’s easy to think about winning the four Stanley Cup championships,” Bettman also said. “But this today will go down as one of the great days in the history of the New York Islanders. Because this assures that anyone who has anything to do with the Islanders, who cares about the Islanders, who is passionate about the Islanders, this is the future of this franchise, right here, on Long Island.” Also from Bettman: Today the Islanders have twice as many season ticket holders as they did a year ago. No details on how the numbers break down. So you should buy season tickets, is what he’s saying. In addition to the current owners and developers who arranged all this, he made a special point to thank the late Charles Wang and his family for what the former Islanders owner did to keep the team on Long Island. Which (New) 2019-20 Games are on Long Island? Hope this doesn’t mess up your plans. Here are the seven games originally scheduled for Brooklyn which will now be at the Coliseum: Sunday Oct. 6 7 p.m. vs. Winnipeg Jets Tuesday Oct. 8 7 p.m. vs. Edmonton Oilers Sunday Oct. 27 7 p.m. vs. Philadelphia Flyers Thursday Jan. 2 7 p.m. vs. New Jersey Devils Monday Jan. 6 7 p.m. vs. Colorado Avalanche Thursday Jan. 16 7 p.m. vs. New York Rangers Tuesday Feb. 25 7 p.m. vs. New York Rangers Single-game tickets go on sale tomorrow. Season Ticket Members can contact their Account Representative should they have any questions regarding the venue change. The Islanders Service Team are available at 888-694-7537. Full announcement here. www.lighthousehockey.com/2019/9/23/20880367/belmont-arena-groundbreaking-islanders-bettman-cuomo-anders-lee
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Post by mikecubs on Sept 24, 2019 14:14:34 GMT -6
The arena opens for the 2021-22 season. There is a lawsuit filed against it.
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