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Mostly Cloudy Coliseum opening may be pushed to early ’17
While construction continues at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said that the renovated arena might not reopen until early 2017.
The renovation is being spearheaded by Brooklyn real estate developer Bruce Ratner, whose company, Nassau Events Center LLC, was chosen for the project by Mangano in August 2013. A Nassau County press release dated Nov. 5 — the day NEC and county leaders hosted a groundbreaking ceremony — stated that the Coliseum was scheduled to reopen in the winter of 2016. But Brian Nevin, a spokesman for Mangano, said that construction began late due to labor negotiations.
“The county executive stated the Coliseum open date was aiming for December 2016, with the possibility of early 2017,” Nevin noted. “This is nothing new.”
However, John Durso, president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, said that "the hold up and the problem was not with the unions. We were ready, willing and able to meet and negotiate an agreement."
Ashley Cotton, senior vice president of external affairs at Ratner’s Forest City Ratner Companies, said the labor agreements “took longer than we had hoped to finalize.” She added that construction is now moving ahead on schedule, and that NEC leaders are “very excited to work with the members of the Nassau-Suffolk Building and Construction Trades Council on the project. The NEC team is working hard to bring Long Islanders the re-imagined venue they deserve.”
The hold up and the problem was not with the unions," he sad we were ready, willing and able to meet and negotiate an agreement.
Cotton said that NEC plans to complete the $260 million, privately funded project late this year. If the Coliseum is not ready to reopen in time for the first event that is planned there — a men’s college basketball game between the University of Kentucky and Hofstra University on Dec. 10, — the game will be played at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Brett Yormark, CEO of Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets, said in November that the same team that developed the Brooklyn arena — including Ratner and Onexim Sports and Entertainment — looks forward to replicating “what we brought to Brooklyn and bringing it to Long Island.” On Oct. 30, Mikhail Prokhorov, a prominent Russian businessman and the principal owner of the Nets, announced that Onexim, his Moscow-based company, would assume 85 percent ownership of NEC. Ratner retained 15 percent ownership and his position as the lead developer on the Coliseum project.
When complete, Yormark said, the Coliseum will host hundreds of events annually, including six New York Islanders games, a Nets preseason game, boxing, minor league sports and college basketball, as well as concerts and family-friendly entertainment. Months after construction starts, work will also begin on the plaza surrounding the arena, which will have a movie theater, family sports and entertainment facilities and restaurants.
