On December
10th, Stefanie Dazio and Jim Baumbach released some of the details in tweets (featured
in Newsday) from the proposal presentations held at Elmont Memorial High School
before 100 or so attendees and elected officials. Proposals from the New York
Islanders organization and New York City FC. Those details were related to the
site available at Belmont Park and how the organizations commented on their
development plans and projections for their future ‘would-be’ facilities on the
43-acre state owned site. Both the Islanders and NYCFC vowed to create more
local jobs and set aside space for community outreach and events. Neither
presenter went into details on costs or financing at the time.
Per Newsday
article, “The Islanders’ proposal includes an 18,000-seat, year-round arena
that would host 150 events annually, as well as 435,000 square feet of space
for retail, a hotel with 200 to 250 rooms, and a 10,000 square-foot “innovation
center” that would be developed with input from residents.”
“NYCFC, a
professional soccer team partially owned by the Yankees, is calling for a
26,000-seat open-air stadium in addition to 400,000 square-feet of space for
retail, a 5.2-acre community park and a 2-acre soccer facility.”
“Both teams’
plans call for opening the Long Island Rail Road’s Belmont Park station
year-round. The teams would build north of Hempstead Turnpike, adjacent to the
train station.” That LIRR station would also include park & ride and Isles
group promised to work with MTA to make it a reality.
The Q&A saw
both teams explain why their plans were most the beneficial use of the
property. The Islanders group included Sterling Project Development (Wilpon)
and Oakview Group (MSG funded) as developers. A year-round outlet store-retail
village, entertainment district, sports fields and a Hotel were included in the
plans for a state of the art Isles facility built by residents and unions.
Populous would be the arena’s designer. Jason Carmello’s firm designed the
CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
“Per Sonny
Sachdeva of Sportsnet, “A representative from Populous, the design firm in
charge of the Islanders’ new proposal, stressed the fact that the potential new
arena would correct many of the issues that drove a wedge between the public
and the Islanders’ current home in Brooklyn.
‘A couple of
elements that’ll make this a great, special hockey venue will be the enhanced
sightlines which are dedicated around an NHL ice sheet,” the representative
said, according to a
video of the presentation posted by Newsday’s Jim Baumbach. “And it
will also be equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, like ice-sheet
systems.”
Per Newsday
article, “The Islanders expect to bring more than 5,500 temporary construction
jobs to the site with 2,000 full-time, permanent, year-round jobs. NYCFC said
it would need 4,500 temporary construction jobs and have 1,600 direct and
indirect jobs through retail and the soccer stadium.” Both organizations balked
at the idea of build a dual-purpose facility for their franchises and said the
joint venture would not be “feasible.”
Islanders
co-owner Jonathan Ledecky reiterated that Isles organization “have blinders on
for Belmont.” The team has until January 25th to enact a built in opt-out
clause from their 25-year lease with the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. No matter
what, an interim deal needs to be struck if the Isles intend to move and the
new facility needs to be built. I’m doubtful on the reality of the Coliseum,
but Barclays could be short term option if a deal could be struck. The
Islanders have recently completed a $60M renovation of the Northwell Health Ice
Center at Eisenhower Park and unveiled it on October 31st of this year.
The Isles minor
league affiliate, BST intends to stick around as well. This only shows the
commitment of ownership to stay right where they want to be. And wait. There’s
more. The Sound Tiger’s home facility, Webster Bank Arena has entered into a partnership with Mohegan Sun in an exclusive, multi-year partnership.
There were
about 20 protestors outside the presentation that they wanted the site reserved
for education, research and technology centers built on the site instead of
sports complex of any kind.
NHL
Commissioner, Gary Bettman was quoted as saying, "Scott Malkin (Isles Co-Owner)
bought the team to have the team to have the team in New York. He didn't buy
the team to have it anywhere else."
The Empire
State Development Corp has provided no timeline for its decision. Neither has
John Tavares.
Keep the faith.
Isles Notes:
After a 3-1 win
vs Washington last night, the Islanders are currently 2nd in the Metro with a
17-10-3 record and 37 pts. in 30 games.
Per Eric
Hornick, The Isles are 9-1-2 at home (best in NHL) and they have scored 54
goals at home in 12 games this season (4.50/game) and “have scored at least
five goals eight times at home (7-1-0) and twelve times overall
(11-1-0). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only
10 games all last season.”
Per NHL PR, “John
Tavares scored his 18th goal of the season to help the @NYIslanders improve to 9-1-2 at
Barclays Center in 2017-18. He trails only Alex Ovechkin and Nikita Kucherov
for the most goals in the NHL this season.”
Mathew Barzal
has drawn 17 penalties (1st among rookies and 4th in NHL). Josh Ho-Sang has
drawn 9, putting him in top 6 among rookies, playing in just 20 of Isles 30
games this Ssn.
“Doug Weight is
now 41-22-7 as an NHL coach. On December 4 in Florida, he reached 40 wins
faster than any coach in Islander history.”
Isles have
Dallas tomorrow night at home and at Columbus on 12/14. They will host at the
Barclays Center for six of next seven games, taking them through December 27th.
Sound Tigers
Notes:
12/7 The Sound Tigers have recalled Yanick
Turcotte (F) and loaned Patrick Cullity (D) to the Worcester Railers.
# # #
Happy Hannukah to those who celebrate.
No comments:
Post a Comment