By Adam Malmut
The problem for East Meadow restaurants near the Coliseum is that the lights may eventually be turned off permanently for Long Island's professional hockey team.
During a tumultuous and injury-riddled season in which the team found itself in last place, questions surfaced about the future of the Islanders and the high-profile Lighthouse project.
Islanders owner Charles B. Wang has said publicly that he would seriously consider offers to sell and possibly move the team if the Town of Hempstead does not give Lighthouse developers a sense of certainty by October that the project will indeed go forward. Wang, who reportedly loses $25 million to $30 million a year on the team, emphasized that he intends to keep the franchise on Long Island.
As town officials continue an extensive process of studies and hearings on the estimated $3.4 billion project, East Meadow restaurant owners expressed their anxiety about the recent rumors and published reports of a possible Islanders move to Kansas City. "If the team does move, many local businesses will be hurt," said Frank Borrelli, owner of Borrelli's, an Italian restaurant a half-mile from the Coliseum on Hempstead Turnpike.
"The Islanders and Nassau Coliseum are a big part of our business," Borrelli said. "We've considered our restaurant an Islanders hot spot since they built the place in 1972."
Borrelli said that an Islanders move wouldn't put his restaurant out of business, but it would certainly have a negative effect. "Islanders games mean extra money for my staff during these bad economic times," said Borrelli. "I am definitely for the Lighthouse project if it keeps the Islanders here."
Potter's Pub, co-owned by Mike and Joyce Amitrano, is another local business within walking distance of the Coliseum that would feel the effects of an Islanders move. Mike Amitrano recalled that his business dropped by 10 percent when the Islanders were idle during the NHL lockout in 2004.
"If the team stays and they build the new project, it would dramatically help us out," Amitrano said. "Even while the project is proceeding, for 10 years you will have thousands of people working and spending."
While these and other businesses owners are crossing their fingers and hoping the team will stay, others remain indifferent, and some are skeptical of the Lighthouse development. Antonio Cervasio, owner of Spumante, an Italian restaurant on Hempstead Turnpike, said he is unsure if keeping the Islanders around is worth the price of building the entire Lighthouse project. "I have mixed feelings about it," Cervasio said. "It sometimes can take me 25 minutes or so to travel home. If the Lighthouse is built, I don't see how the traffic situation will be resolved."
Cervasio noted that he gets more business from concert crowds than from the Islanders. He estimated that the fans the Islanders attract account for 5 percent of Spumante's business during the hockey season. "The new development would help some if they make it a big central destination for the people of Long Island," he said. "Then it would help us."
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