Forest City Ratner team, MSG team finalists to revamp Nassau Coliseum

It was clear that the Forest City Ratner team and the Madison Square Garden team were the leading candidates (of four) to revamp the Nassau Coliseum and, indeed, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano last week made it official.

As the Long Island Herald reported 7/10/13, Coliseum developers narrowed to MSG, Forest City Ratner, Mangano, isntead of making his final decision July 15 will instead wait until the middle of August, as both parties are finalizing their contracts.

Newsday, in a 7/9/13 article headlined Mangano names Ratner, MSG finalists for Nassau Coliseum revamp, reported:

"The dual contracts that went out will generate further competition, which will require the developers to sharpen their pencils and provide more economic benefits to the county," said council member Kevin Law, who heads the Long Island Association, the region's largest business group.
Once the agreements are finalized and Mangano picks the winning bidder, he will submit one contract to the county legislature, which must approve any final agreement. Mangano said he hopes the legislature could vote by late August or early September.

This may be wiser than coming to an agreement that can be subject to renegotiation:

"My experience has been that there's typically differences between the term sheet and the actual contract," Mangano said. "This brings certainty."
Mangano said the two "proposals are very competitive, so the decision-making will likely be in the details reflected in the contract."

Some tart comments

One Newsday reader, referencing the fact that Forest City Ratner will soon house the Coliseum's main tenant, the New York Islanders, wrote:

Ratner a finalist?!?! That's like letting the trophy wife decide what the first wife's new house is going to look like.

Others made reference to the fact that Newsday owner Cablevision controls MSG:

And the winner is- the biggest Mangano/Mondello donor. Congrats MSG/Dolan. Now your paper, Newsday, can support Mangano for executive based on favors instead of performance.
So MSG campaigned and advertised against the arena proposal that would have kept the Islanders in the Coliseum and now they want to develop the site. I'd say no to them.

Another suggested a pox on both houses:

The entire contracting process will be rigged. Ratner and Dolan will reach a gentlemen's agreement which will provide untold wealth to each of them at the expense of Nassau County, NY taxpayers.