Lighthouse project/Nassau Coliseum (Hempstead, Boston: appointed, real estate, 2015)

[sabbat hunter]

So since it is readily apparent that the ToH is not going to back in any form the Lighthouse project from Wang (unless he starts to grease a few ToH republican party palms IMHO), starting in 2015 there will be a big vacant white elephant of an aging/outdated arena. What will the ToH/Nassau County do then?

I think that the ToH and Nassau county need to stop pussyfooting around, get behind the lighthouse project (if it isn't already too late)

Otherwise the Islanders will be playing in either Brooklyn or Queens and the ToH will be SOL.

ToH does not care. The project will not get done, Murray's crew vehemently opposes progress.

[Goodnight]

The SMG lease expires in 2015, the County and Town of Hempstead should focus on rebuilding the Coliseum. The SMG lease was a terrible deal with Al D'Amato at the helm for TOH at the time and later going to work for SMG as a counsel. It was so bad Gulotta was contemplating killing off the deal but the cost would still be excessive. Its rather unimaginable a stadium in the middle of one of the wealthiest counties has seen no improvements (thanks to the SMG lease) while stadiums are built everywhere.

The best thing that could have happened would have been for the Islanders to declare bankruptcy and let SMG's property sit idle until they negotiate a more reasonable lease, that is still a possiblity.

The lighthouse project was sponsered by Wang and Rechler for their own benefit. The focus should have been on rebuilding the coliseum not the surrounding area if Wang is really was being sincere but I think his motives have always been the property.

Wang is a business man who has no need or desire to be sincere.

The County owns the land and wanted the development.
According to polls the majority of Long Islanders (by a 10% margin) favored the development.
The owner of the Islanders wanted the development.
The team wanted the development.

The 10 or so member Town of Hempstead governing board did not.

Wang made MANY and every attempt to both placate the fans, team, and his own financial desires as a business man.

The ToH has spoken, and would rather have no team if it came down to requiring development as a factor in appeasing the teams owner.

Any money Wang throws in the coliseum alone will never be recouped in his lifetime.
This was a smart move with some benefit from LI- I can only hope now that the land is donated to Shinnecock Nation who would have the right to build their casino on it, being sovereign at that point from Kate Murray's rule.

That would be humorous irony.

[sabbat hunter]

Given how close the coliseum site is to 3 colleges/universities, I cannot see a casino being built there.

Originally Posted by grant516

Wang is a business man who has no need or desire to be sincere.

The County owns the land and wanted the development.
According to polls the majority of Long Islanders (by a 10% margin) favored the development.
The owner of the Islanders wanted the development.
The team wanted the development.

The 10 or so member Town of Hempstead governing board did not.

Wang made MANY and every attempt to both placate the fans, team, and his own financial desires as a business man.

The ToH has spoken, and would rather have no team if it came down to requiring development as a factor in appeasing the teams owner.

Any money Wang throws in the coliseum alone will never be recouped in his lifetime.
This was a smart move with some benefit from LI- I can only hope now that the land is donated to Shinnecock Nation who would have the right to build their casino on it, being sovereign at that point from Kate Murray's rule.

That would be humorous irony.

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by Goodnight

The SMG lease expires in 2015, the County and Town of Hempstead should focus on rebuilding the Coliseum. The SMG lease was a terrible deal with Al D'Amato at the helm for TOH at the time and later going to work for SMG as a counsel. It was so bad Gulotta was contemplating killing off the deal but the cost would still be excessive. Its rather unimaginable a stadium in the middle of one of the wealthiest counties has seen no improvements (thanks to the SMG lease) while stadiums are built everywhere.

The best thing that could have happened would have been for the Islanders to declare bankruptcy and let SMG's property sit idle until they negotiate a more reasonable lease, that is still a possiblity.

The lighthouse project was sponsered by Wang and Rechler for their own benefit. The focus should have been on rebuilding the coliseum not the surrounding area if Wang is really was being sincere but I think his motives have always been the property.

If they fix up the coliseum, who is going to play there? Without the Islanders (I am assuming no Lighthouse means no Islanders in the future) or another sports team to make it a home, will it even make enough money to support itself and pay for it being fixed up? Plus what are they going to do with the rest of the land, which is now mostly cracked pavement parking lots? I think we should have went ahead with the Lighthouse. I wonder exactly why Kate Murray and Company were really opposed to it. Do they have a secret deal with a developer in the works (with plenty of kickbacks for themselves)?

[Smash255]

Originally Posted by Goodnight

The SMG lease expires in 2015, the County and Town of Hempstead should focus on rebuilding the Coliseum. The SMG lease was a terrible deal with Al D'Amato at the helm for TOH at the time and later going to work for SMG as a counsel. It was so bad Gulotta was contemplating killing off the deal but the cost would still be excessive. Its rather unimaginable a stadium in the middle of one of the wealthiest counties has seen no improvements (thanks to the SMG lease) while stadiums are built everywhere.

The best thing that could have happened would have been for the Islanders to declare bankruptcy and let SMG's property sit idle until they negotiate a more reasonable lease, that is still a possiblity.

The lighthouse project was sponsered by Wang and Rechler for their own benefit. The focus should have been on rebuilding the coliseum not the surrounding area if Wang is really was being sincere but I think his motives have always been the property.

If you look at pretty much any successful new arena it is often built in a downtown type of area or is built in coordination with improvement projects in the local area. You really don't have many arenas sitting in one area with little else around. The Lighthouse project along with the new arena IMHO was a very good idea and would have been a good fit for the area. Murray simply dropped the puck big time on this.

[The Granite]

Originally Posted by Smash255

If you look at pretty much any successful new arena it is often built in a downtown type of area or is built in coordination with improvement projects in the local area. You really don't have many arenas sitting in one area with little else around. The Lighthouse project along with the new arena IMHO was a very good idea and would have been a good fit for the area. Murray simply dropped the puck big time on this.

Well said Smash. Murray and Mondello were not "greased" properly so they killed the project. That being said, Wang also dropped the ball (or puck) and is now draining the resources out of the Islanders.

[WIHS2006]

A prime example of why Long Island is seen as the land of no and why no business wants to invest in Long Island.

I had high hopes for the Lighthouse Project and was extremely disappointed when the TOH rejected it. It seems everytime someone tries to develop an area with affordable housing, new businesses, etc they get shot down

Oh well, the politicians will reap what they sow when only they, the cops, the teachers, and the illegal immigrants are the only people left on Long Island.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by sabbat hunter

Given how close the coliseum site is to 3 colleges/universities, I cannot see a casino being built there.

I would hate to see a casino built there too, but I think what grant516 means is that at this point, that's what Kate Murray and the Town of Hempstead deserve for wasting a prime development opportunity that would have seriously benefited the county and Long Island as a whole. Nassau County owns the land and if it was turned over to the Shinnecock Nation it would be exempt from any local zoning authority. They could build whatever they wanted there, regardless of whatever institutions are nearby.

After that whole fiasco - millions of wasted dollars, years of wasted time, tons of empty promises - I almost agree with him just because I'd love to see Kate Murray and her flock have a brain aneurysm over it. Why we keep electing this woman to office is seriously beyond my comprehension. The proposal Wang had on the table would have taken our rapidly aging and ever more expensive suburb into the realm of forward-thinking and practical 21st century "smart growth". IMO it was the exact type of development Nassau County needs to remain relevant and sustainable, long term. Instead, we'll probably end up with another mall (or casino!) and rooting for the NHL's re-christened Outerboro Icelanders. Wang willing to put the money up for this, and the public support it garnered, was a one-in-a-lifetime thing. There's no one else out there - especially in light of these shenanigans - who will be willing to invest in one of the NYC Metro area's most expensive and development-unfriendly suburbs.

The only explanation for the whole mess that makes any sense to me is that all of Kate Murray's constituents are paranoid octogenarians whose view of buildings more than 2-stories high was shaped by the NYC white flight era and they'd rather breathe in whatever last gasps of "idyllic" 1962 tract-housing Long Island nostalgia they can before kicking the bucket than allow progress that would benefit several generations of Long Islanders from taking shape. See "neighborhood ruining" White Castles for another example. We're living in an area with a population density higher than Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Baltimore, San Fransisco and virtually every other American city. The ToH has more people living in it than some entire STATES yet we don't have the infrastructure to support a mixed-use real estate development and sports arena on a <100 acre parcel of land? Pure insanity...

Best hope now is that the same people who overwhelmingly supported the Lighthouse development remember WHY it was shiitcanned next time there's an election, but I doubt they will. As long as grandpa's VFW hall buddies keep electing people like Kate Murray, we're all doomed.