Cuomo breaks ground at Belmont for new Islanders arena, as two new lawsuits linger; seven more games moved from Barclays Center to Nassau Coliseum

We've seen the pageantry before, with different people. Yesterday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his Empire State Development (ESD), led by Eric Gertler (the MC in the video below) hosted a groundbreaking for the new sports-and-entertainment arena at Belmont Park, home to the New York Islanders.

Yes, the political players and team leaders were there, plus happy fans wearing jerseys and carrying signs.

Newsday, the dominant Long Island newspaper and frequent enthusiast for the arena project, played it big, albeit with acknowledgement there are two lawsuits pending. 

Two arenas, for now

The same day, Cuomo and the National Hockey League announced that, rather than splitting their season--the second of an at least three-year interim arrangement--between Barclays Center and the downsized but closer-to-home Nassau Coliseum, the Islanders would play seven more games in Nassau, including two against historic rival New York Rangers. The total is now 28.

That's a win for players and fans, though not necessarily for the league, which, as Michel Anderson wrote in Eye on Isles, last year ordered that revenue-producing home playoff games after the first round would have to be played at Barclays, with more capacity (though, during the season, lower attendance), more suites, and more sponsorships.

Wrote Anderson:

The NHL’s reasoning was that the Coliseum “does not qualify as an NHL major league facility.” How can that argument still hold up when the NHL is ready to embrace a schedule that will feature so many games at the Coliseum? It can’t.

The best conclusion is that Cuomo got his way, satisfying constituents on Long Island and, in a sense, helping the Barclays Center, now operated by Joe Tsai, which was eager to lose the team, and also helping the Coliseum, still operated by Mikhail Prokhorov's BSE Global.

The retail won't have "Belmont" signs

The likely harm to the Coliseum from the new arena, one significant question mark regarding the Belmont plan that I raised in a Gotham Gazette essay, went unmentioned at the groundbreaking.

New retail

Interestingly enough, there was slightly more mention of what is likely the real reason for the development project, a high-end retail village, the first U.S. operation run by Value Retail, owned by Islanders' co-owner Scott Malkin, who again stayed behind the scenes, letting his partner, hockey guy Jon Ledecky, take the podium.

Cuomo yesterday released new project renderings (bottom), including not only the brick arena but also the retail village, the stores of which, I'm sure, will have their brands as signs, rather than "Belmont," as in the example above right.

If you listen to the proponents, this was a win-win, with underutilized parcels on public land finally activated by development, which is slated to deliver new jobs and tax revenues. Another way to look at it--see my essay--is that land for major revenue-producing activities came on the cheap.

As at least one of the lawsuits argues, the process was predetermined, with the Islanders' project team having an inside track compared to any other bidder. Another question surrounds the effectiveness of the new Elmont station designed to serve the project, which will require shuttle buses to the arena.

Watch til the end of the video to see Cuomo and crew "breaking ground" with a shovel attached to a hockey stick--an apt touch. At least they didn't look doofy wearing hardhats, as Atlantic Yards/Barclays Center watchers may recall.

The video



The press release

The official press release, Governor Cuomo Breaks Ground on New Belmont Park Arena, announced that "Construction Will Create 10,000 Jobs and Generate $2.7 Billion in Economic Activity," but of course that's job-years.

From the press release:

For approximately two years, Empire State Development and New York Belmont Partners, and its affiliate, New York Arena Partners — a joint venture among Sterling Equities, the Scott Malkin Group and the Oak View Group — have shepherded the Belmont Redevelopment Project through a rigorous and transparent public review process, which included 12 public meetings and hearings and dozens of meetings with local organizations and stakeholders. Thanks to input from local officials, community members and the project's Community Advisory Committee, the project was improved at each iteration in the review process - culminating in the addition of the new Elmont LIRR station. Earlier this summer, the project received its public approvals from the Empire State Development Board of Directors, the Franchise Oversight Board and the Public Authorities Control Board.

"Rigorous and transparent"? As I've written, they didn't release the appraisals--and summaries, at that--until the last minute, though they were clearly available before then.

As Neil deMause wrote on Field of Schemes, the AP erroneously reported, "As part of the work, developers have agreed to pay to build a new Long Island Rail Road station nearby." (The Cuomo press release said, more cautiously, "help fund.")

Some backstory

Newsday offered some backstory regarding the New York Arena Partners (NYAP), which might prove interesting should the lawsuits move toward serious fact-finding:

Construction of the arena, hotel and retail project is handled by the Wilpon family’s Sterling Project Development, which also built Citi Field.
...Jeff Wilpon recalled after the ceremony Monday that he grew up an Islanders fan in Roslyn and attended their Stanley Cup games as a teenager in the early 1980s.
He runs Sterling Project Development with partner Richard Browne and got involved with the Islanders’ project when developer Scott Malkin became the team's controlling partner in 2016.
Wilpon said he and Malkin worked together at a development firm in the mid-1980s and have remained friends since. They have spoken for several years about building an Islanders arena at Belmont.

The lawsuits

Here's coverage of the two lawsuits, first by the village of Floral Park and then by groups in Elmont, in Long Island Business News.

From a letter from Floral Park mayor Dominick A. Longobardi:

The Village was compelled to take this step because ESD failed to address the concerns of our residents and failed to mitigate the very real negative consequences to our Village that will result from the massive size and scope of the Project, which includes a shopping mall, a hotel and a sports and entertainment arena.
...However, the good faith extended by the Village was not returned by ESD and NYAP. Despite near unanimous public opinion that the size and scope of the Project needed to be scaled back if the Project were to be workable, ESD and NYAP drastically increased the size and impact of the Project. Meanwhile, our residents’ concerns about increased traffic and the impact on our residential areas were virtually ignored.

Among the allegations, as summarized in the Long Island Herald, are that NYAP had the inside track, submitting a Master Plan before ESD put out a request for proposals, and that the Final Environmental Impact Statement did introduced modifications to the project not subject to public scrutiny including, the new rail road station and a plan to use liquified petroleum gas if necessary.

According to a press release from the Belmont Park Community Coalition (BPCC), their lawsuit, filed with The Elmont Parkhurst Civic Association, Elmont Tudor Manor Civic Association and Locustwood/Gotham Civic Association, took aim at a finding of blight--always a convenient dodge in New York, where the state has much leeway, and allege a failure to cumulatively assess multiple projects in the area.

Do such lawsuits have a chance? Well, given the low bar under New York state law--"rational basis"--to not overturn an agency decision, it's unlikely. However, as with the Atlantic Yards-related litigation (which did include one successful lawsuit, requiring a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, albeit years later), at the very least such litigation can shine some sunlight on some questionable decisions.

LI vs. Brooklyn

NHL.com quoted Islanders' General Manager Lou Lamoriello as saying the new arena would help the team recruit free agents in the future.

"I think it's immense," Lamoriello said. "Playing in two facilities was tough, especially for most of the players who were playing at the Coliseum, going back and forth.
"It's no disrespect at all with Barclays, because [former Barclays Center chief executive officer] Brett Yormark and his staff just were tremendous during the period of time that I've been here as far as cooperation in doing things as best they can. But it was inevitable that if a facility wasn't built that hockey wouldn't be here on Long Island."

That's a very generous statement. Indeed, to save money and achieve financing, Barclays was downsized from an 850,000 square foot, two-sport arena to a 670,000 square foot basketball-centric arena, with poor sight lines for hockey.

Yormark's BSE Global and the Islanders' faithful had a contentious relationship, with Yormark blaming the latter for not embracing Brooklyn.

Belmont Renderings Sept. 2019 by Norman Oder on Scribd