By Doug Miller
to preliminarily accept an agreement between the county executive and developer Charles Wang that gives Wang standing to advance his proposal to redevelop the 77-acre parcel around Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, known as the Nassau Hub. The committees sent the agreement on to the Legislature, where it will be put to a vote on Feb. 5.
The committee votes were not without dissent, however, and concerns arose from both sides of the aisle about the proposal's potential problems, including density, parking problems and whether the plan is perhaps too generous to the developer.
The committees approved a resolution that would authorize County Executive Thomas Suozzi to execute an agreement with Lighthouse Development Group, a consortium made up of Wang and his partners, which include Reckson Real Estate Corp. If the resolution is approved by the Legislature, Wang could bring his proposal before the Town of Hempstead and its zoning process.
"This vote will simply move things forward," said Legislator David Mejias, a Democratic member of the Rules Committee. "It won't approve the creation of any 60-story towers."
Committee members also expressed concerns about giving the Town of Hempstead too much influence in the process, a prospect that prompted several legislators from the rest of Nassau to balk at the proposal. "Tom Suozzi and this developer need to make assurances to my residents," said Richard Nicolello, the ranking member of the Planning Committee whose district is in North Hempstead.
And it was not just those from the North Shore who expressed concerns. Peter Bee, a trustee and deputy mayor of the Village of Garden City, rose to speak in protest. "We are greatly concerned that this is going to move forward without direction from our village," he said.
Wang, who owns the Coliseum's primary tenant, the New York Islanders, has proposed spending $200 million to overhaul the arena by adding dozens of luxury boxes, expanded public concourses and several additional ice rinks for public use. His proposal also includes the construction of a new luxury hotel, dozens of high-end condominiums, an outdoor retail concourse and a minor league baseball stadium on the site. An earlier proposal included a 62-story residential tower that was shelved after a public outcry.
While the precise details of the proposal have not been finalized, the estimated price tag is $1.5 billion.
The agreement to allow Wang to proceed received a single no vote Monday, from Legislator Vincent Muscarella, a Republican who sits on the Finance Committee. The vote came after a terse exchange between the committee's ranking Republican, John Ciotti, and Deputy County Executive Helena Williams.
Written into the agreement is a provision that allows Wang to negotiate to break the Islanders' lease with SMG, the company that manages the Coliseum, if the Legislature rejects the final Hub lease agreement. The Islanders' lease runs through 2015.
"The developer is looking for incentives to get to the end of the process," Williams said. "We concluded that if you look forward, it would only be four or five years [to the end of the lease] anyway."
"But we've lost a lot of leverage," Ciotti responded. "If we don't approve of this, we lose the Islanders?"
Ciotti then asked if any kind of a traffic-impact study had been undertaken. Williams replied that there had not. "The plan is to get the process started, then let the developer pay for those studies," she said.
Democrat Roger Corbin said that his district, which includes Westbury and Carle Place, were greatly impacted by development along Old Country Road and that he was concerned that this development would make it worse. "I invite everyone to come to our community on a weekend," Corbin said. "Where are these people going to deposit their cars?"
"We already know there's a problem," Ciotti added. "This is Long Island. People use automobiles here."
Comments about this story? DMiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
