As predicted, Ratner looks to get government help--state-funded parking--for the Nassau Coliseum revamp
Where's the catch? I asked in August 2013, when Bruce Ratner's Nassau Events Center won the bid to renovate and revamp the antiquated Nassau Coliseum.
As I wrote, I have to wonder when Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano announced "a historic public-private partnership... a 100% privately financed Coliseum that will share revenue with the County at zero expense to the taxpayer."
We've since learned that Ratner will be able to sell naming rights to the project--a giveaway of sorts--and that he admitted he'd ask "the county’s Industrial Development Agency for some tax exemptions," as the Times reported.
But Professor Dennis Coates warned they might "back out of the deal at some point and come back to the county and say we need more money, and the county will be on the hook.”
That's not what has happened (yet), but Newsday reported yesterday that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has proposed spending $150 million for several parking projects, including one at the Nassau Coliseum:
As I wrote, I have to wonder when Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano announced "a historic public-private partnership... a 100% privately financed Coliseum that will share revenue with the County at zero expense to the taxpayer."
We've since learned that Ratner will be able to sell naming rights to the project--a giveaway of sorts--and that he admitted he'd ask "the county’s Industrial Development Agency for some tax exemptions," as the Times reported.
But Professor Dennis Coates warned they might "back out of the deal at some point and come back to the county and say we need more money, and the county will be on the hook.”
 |
| From Cuomo's Opportunity Agenda |
Ratner needs about 5,000 parking spots but construction of a multi-story parking garage adjacent to the arena would liberate dozens of acres of blacktop for additional development.
"A state investment in this facility would complement the current private investment and drive hundreds of millions of dollars of additional private investment at the site," Cuomo's office said in a statement.
..."This initiative will assist in creating jobs and opportunities while complementing the redeveloped Coliseum and surrounding sports-and-entertainment district," said [Nassau County Executive Ed] Mangano.
Ratner said in a statement: “We welcome the state’s investment in parking infrastructure at the Nassau Coliseum site and thank Governor Cuomo for his efforts to spur economic development in New York.”
Comments
Post a Comment