Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

The Nassau Coliseum deal is certainly working out for controversial EB-5 middleman Nicholas Mastroianni II, given a $241 million transaction with Las Vegas Sands, though it's unclear whether the immigrant investors who put $100 million into the building's renovation will benefit similarly. Let's recap. As I reported , after operator Mikhail Prokhorov shuttered the county-owned Coliseum in 2020 during the pandemic, the lease somehow reverted to control by Mastroianni of the U.S. Immigration Fund, not the 200 investors who each put up $500,000 in a purportedly job-creating enterprise, in exchange for green cards for themselves and their families, expecting to get their money back in five years, by 2022. Though a key document suggested the investors would assume the lease in the event of default, it also gave the manager (Mastroianni), control of the Company. That scenario—as I wrote —resembles a mortgage default that leaves the mortgage broker , not the mortgage issuer, in c...

Another influential voice is calling for the demolition of the renovated, but lagging, Nassau Coliseum, following a Newsday editorial and comments by the Nassau County Executive.   Can the Nassau Coliseum curse ever be lifted ?" wrote Newsday columnist Randi Marshall, who likely wrote the earlier editorial. Her 8/2/22 column recalled the referendum, eleven years earlier, when county taxpayers rejected a referendum to use taxpayer funds for a new Coliseum. (Newsday backed the referendum.) Now the arena's mostly dark, "surrounded by 72 acres of parking lot," which could be developed. Marshall blames not only elected officials: The rejections of good plans and the proposals of bad ones. The Islanders' move to Brooklyn and back. The constant tenant changeover. The pandemic. The new UBS Arena at Belmont Park just a few miles to the west. A renovation that left the Coliseum with little more than a $100 million loan that hangs on it like an albatross. The vague rumbl...

In the wake of influential Long Island newspaper Newsday's editorial exhortation  to demolish the Nassau Coliseum, now comes amNY with  EXCLUSIVE: County Executive Blakeman says ‘it would be difficult to keep Nassau Coliseum in its present form’ , published 7/21/22: Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told amNewYork in an exclusive interview Thursday that it would be “difficult” to keep the Nassau Coliseum — the former home of the New York Islanders — “in its present form.” Though the Coliseum still hosts "the NBA G-League’s Long Island Nets, the New York Riptide of the National Lacrosse League, and the occasional concert," nothing is scheduled until October 1--despite the recent renovation that downsized the arena.  That left it vulnerable to what  Blakeman called "tremendous competition," especially the New York Islander's new home in nearby Elmont, UBS Arena. From the article: Blakeman, who is in the first year of his term as county executive, and his ...

It's time for change at the Nassau Hub , Newsday editorialized 7/16/22, adding, "Nassau Coliseum has served Long Island well but now is an expensive albatross that must be demolished." It begins: For decades, little has changed at the economic wasteland known as the Nassau Hub. An arena with tight corridors and few modern amenities. Dozens of acres of empty asphalt around it. Plan after plan. Deadline after deadline. Dashed hope after dashed hope. Failure after failure. The latest and perhaps the best chance to end this dismal cycle and turn the Hub into a job-creating, revenue-generating destination is in the hands of Nassau County, the Town of Hempstead and developer RXR Realty. They must not get this wrong. That means embracing the right uses, like housing and health care, and rejecting the wrong ones — like gambling. It means removing impediments — like the Nassau Coliseum itself — and welcoming assets, such as potential partnerships with entities like NYU Langone. So...

A new arena brings new happy talk, of course.  Islanders’ new UBS Arena on pace to open on time , the New York Post reported 9/30/21. The Islanders will play their first 13 games on the road to open the season, providing an extra few weeks for the final cosmetic touches to be completed before the long-awaited UBS Arena opens at Belmont Park. The franchise’s first home game isn’t slated to be played until Nov. 20 against the Flames, one night after a charity concert will be held to christen the team’s $1.1 billion new home. “The arena is going to open on time,” Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky said Thursday before he accompanied members of the media on a tour of the 17,500-seat arena.  Except, um, it's not. It was supposed to open in October, as Newsday's not quite current article  states. See screenshot at right. No wonder construction is going into overtime. Remember, the Barclays Center was barely finished the day it opened in September 2012. Eye on Isles  noted , ...

So, what to make of Newsday's 8/14/21 profile of Nick Mastroianni II, who somehow parlayed his role as middleman in EB-5 investor visa fundraising (via his company, the deceptively-named U.S. Immigration Fund) into controlling the Nassau Coliseum lease and playing a role in the development of the surrounding hub? Well, at least they published something--about a year after his potential role surfaced and six months after it was announced. But  Challenges mount for Nassau Coliseum leaseholder  hardly gets at Mastroianni's dubious business practices , or his dubious takeover of the Coliseum lease--or the inherently sketchy world of EB-5. So it falls way short of what's needed. My guess--and it's just a guess--is that Newsday is loath to push too hard on a businessman who controls an iconic Long Island venue, owned by Nassau County and supported by see-no-problem county officials, and who also is likely to advertise significantly. But c'mon--the red flags are plenti...

Something's questionable here. NYC investment firm takes 25% stake in Nassau Coliseum operator , Newsday reported 7/23/21, citing Fortress Investment Group's undisclosed investment "in Nassau Live, which holds the lease on the Coliseum, according to a resolution adopted Thursday by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency." That means Nick Mastroianni, who somehow transformed from the middleman arranging the $100 million EB-5 loan from 200 immigrant investors to the holder of the lease after Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim defaulted on the loan, has gained either an infusion of cash now or, at least, a fellow investor for the larger Hub plan around the Coliseum. That plan is steered by another company, RXR, with Nassau Live Developer as minority partner. "Fortress sees a real real-estate opportunity here," Newsday reported Mastroianni attorney, Peter L. Curry telling the IDA at a meeting. "This is a pretty strong indication that they view [the Col...

A Nassau County press release 3/2/21, published on LongIsland.com as Curran, Islanders, and Coliseum Announce Reopening To Fans , seems to be the full version of the one in Patch 2/24/21 (which I previously cited ): Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, the New York Islanders organization, and Nassau Coliseum management today announced the building’s reopening to Islanders season ticket members starting on March 18th, as permitted by state guidelines . Attendance will be limited to 10% of capacity, and all required safety protocols will be followed. On March 11th, 1,000 Northwell Health frontline staff will be guests of the Islanders, to thank them for their heroic efforts this past year. Season ticket members will have priority for all Islanders home games this season. For information about season tickets, fans can call 888-NY-ISLES. County Executive Curran and the Islanders organization thank Nassau Live Center at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum management and the many others ...

Nope, nobody cares about the Nassau Coliseum switcheroo , in which the middleman for the building's EB-5 loan, an affiliate of Nicholas Mastroianni's U.S. Immigration Fund, curiously became the leaseholder, after Mikhail Prokhorov's Nassau Events Center (NEC) withdrew. Though I raised some significant questions about the candor of Nassau County officials and what County Legislators understood regarding the County-owned building, neither officials nor the press took it up. So the Legislature on 2/22/21 unanimously approved lease amendments allowing rent relief for the tenant and also--as Newsday  put it  in a brief summary, protected "the county from potential lawsuits against the leaseholder." And, as I describe below, the Legislature still doesn't understand the switcheroo, with the Presiding Officer confusing the lender and borrower--not surprising, given the convolutions. The upshot That means, as Patch reported 2/24/21, the New York Islanders will resume ...

In an unusual switcheroo still obfuscated by Nassau County officials, the Nassau Coliseum lease has been taken over by an ethically dubious businessman known for aggressively promoting investor visas. That businessman is Nicholas Mastroianni II, whose Nassau Live Center assumed the lease in August after former arena operator Nassau Events Center (NEC), headed by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, shuttered the pandemic-stalled building, leaving $100 million in debt. Now Mastroianni’s positioned to get rent relief from the County, even as he’s pursued new ways to reap revenue from the Coliseum deal and engineered a settlement from Prokhorov three times larger than has been previously disclosed. How did this happen? Mastroianni, according to  Newsday 's recent deadpan  summary , “was legally entitled to take control of the Coliseum lease, and by default, is a partner with RXR Realty in development of the area [around the County-owned building], because he coordinated the loa...

In  'Nassau Live Center' the temporary words on Islanders' Coliseum ice logo , Newsday reported 1/19/21 that the name Nassau Live Center now surrounds the team logo at center ice, though it will eventually read "Nassau Live at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum."  That's because the naming rights holder, New York Community Bank, withdrew.  Per Newsday: Nassau Live Center is the name of the Coliseum’s new leaseholder, which has taken over control of the county-owned building after Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov defaulted on rent and walked away from a $100 million loan. ...Nassau then negotiated a deal with [Nicholas] Mastroianni to take over the same lease because his Jupiter, Florida, company, U.S. Immigration Fund, orchestrated the loan that helped finance Onexim’s renovation of the Coliseum. That's presented as something routine. However, as I wrote last month, the deal seems akin to a mortgage default that leaves the mortgage broker , not the mo...

A 12/31/20 article from Newsday , Coliseum will host more concerts in '21, but recovery may lag , study says, suggests that the beleaguered Long Island arena would see a boost in concerts after crowds return after the pandemic winds down, given backed-up bookings at larger venues. But that short-term gain likely won't be permanent, according to the consultants, Camoin Associates and RMG SportsVentures, hired by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency to assess the county-owned Coliseum, its future deeply jeopardized by the new Belmont arena. I haven't seen the 13-page report, but the conclusion seems fairly simple--one that might have been reached in a phone call or two. (Local activist Tammie Williams made a similar point, contending that the consultant was paid "to read and summarize in a 13-page doc the lawsuit and its supplemental docs filed by the community." Newsday reported that this is the first of potentially four reports, costing $68,000.) Famil...

At a 4/13/15 hearing of the Nassau Legislature, when asked if Nassau County faced any risk from approving EB-5 financing for Nassau Coliseum renovations from immigrant investors via the controversial firm U.S. Immigration Fund, Josh Meyer, an attorney for the county, said , “ultimately it would be no different than if you were going to a bank.” Not at all, it turns out. The Nassau Coliseum saga has gotten more complex—and raised more troubling questions—since Mikhail Prokhorov’s Nassau Events Center in June walked away from the lease to the county-owned building, seemingly leaving the immigrant investors who funded the arena renovation as key players. From letter to Nassau Coliseum investors In reality, documents suggest they’re pawns, since the middleman who orchestrated the $100 million loan, earning fees and keeping nearly all the interest, is in charge.  It seems akin to a mortgage default that leaves the mortgage broker , not the mortgage issuer, in charge. As amendments to t...