Nassau County’s largest economic development project on the 72-acre Hub property around Nassau Coliseum could kick off as early as March on an “aggressive” new schedule set by developers and district officials.
With the lifting of the capacity restrictions imposed on large venues and meeting rooms during the coronavirus pandemic, officials at lead developer RXR Realty and Nassau County and Hempstead Town say they are pushing ahead with planning permits for the decade-long dormant site.
Scott Rechler, CEO and Chairman of RXR, said the “pandemic has only increased the hub’s role as an economic engine for Nassau County.”
Scott Rechler, CEO of RXR Realty, will be shown in his Uniondale office on January 14, 2015. Credit: NEWSDAY / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
In a statement to Newsday, Rechler said the project will not only create a new dynamic living, work and play community in the heart of Long Island, but, equally importantly, will create thousands of new jobs and be instrumental in helping Long’s recovery Iceland. “
Most of the $ 1.5 billion project will be privately funded, and the state will provide funds for parking garages and supporting infrastructure.
WHAT TO KNOW
After delays during the coronavirus pandemic, a $ 1.5 billion project to redevelop the 72-acre Hub property around the Nassau Coliseum, could lay the foundation stone as early as March 2022.
Plans submitted in 2018 comprised 500 residential units and up to 800,000 square meters of office space, biotech research space and “adventure retail”.
Revisions due to the pandemic include living options with home offices or open workplaces.
Original plans for the hub project proposed in 2018 included 500 residential units and up to 800,000 square meters of office space, biotechnological research space and “experience retail” as well as transport improvements and two new parking garages.
A conceptual illustrative rendering of the Nassau Hub project that was shared in 2018. Photo credit: RXR, BSE Global
Rechler and his development team said while COVID-19 put the proposal on hold, the pandemic reaffirmed the usefulness of many initiatives in the original design to create a “live, work-play” and walk-in meeting place on the Hub property in Uniondale.
RXR spokesman David Garten cited a backlog in the entertainment market after more than a year of pandemic restrictions.
“We’re seeing a reopening,” said Garten, referring to increasing letting activity in the region’s commercial real estate market. “We believe there is an incredible demand for safe meeting rooms.”
“The schedule is aggressive, but given the strong leadership of the county and the city, there’s no reason we can’t keep it,” said Garten.
Laura Curran, a Democrat running for re-election in November, said reopening the Colosseum and developing the hub remain priorities.
“We are reinventing the hub to reflect our new post-COVID reality.”
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran
“Our commitment to the project has never waned, and we are redesigning the hub to reflect our new post-COVID reality – including an additional focus on healthcare and innovation, and housing options with home offices or open workplaces,” Curranran said in a statement Newsday.
NASSAU HUB PROJECT
place: The 72 acre property around the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale.
Costs: $ 1.5 billion. Largely privately financed and state funding for parking garages and supporting infrastructure.
Elements*: 500 residential units; up to 800,000 square meters of office space, biotech research space and “adventure retail”; two new parking garages; Traffic improvements.
* Under the original plans for 2018
Source: RXR Realty; Nassau County
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Hub project would be a turning point after decades of failed proposals, political disputes, and years of litigation that held up work on the county’s last major vacant land.
In 2004, when Thomas Suozzi, the Nassau Democratic District Executive, was in office, Rechler and then-New York Islanders owner Charles B. Wang proposed the $ 3.8 billion lighthouse project. A renovated sports arena was planned; 2,300 residential units; 1 million square meters of office space; 500,000 square meters of retail space; and a luxury hotel.
The Republican-run town of Hempstead turned down the plan, citing concerns about traffic and a possible influx of students into Uniondale schools.
The lighthouse plan collapsed and Wang, who died in 2018, eventually brought the islanders to Brooklyn.
In 2011, during the tenure of ex-Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, a Republican, Nassau voters turned down a referendum to exclude the county from spending up to $ 400 million on rebuilding the Colosseum and building an adjacent ballpark Minor League to agree.
Two years later, Mangano decided on another plan by Barclay Center developer Bruce Ratner to renovate the Colosseum. Syosset’s partner developer Ed Blumenfeld proposed a large adjacent retail and entertainment complex.
However, Ratner and Blumenfeld split over the project management and sued each other.
Ratner carried out a $ 250 million renovation of the Colosseum, which reopened in April 2017.
Officials estimated Nassau County would receive approximately $ 3.7 million annually in sales tax revenue from the arena, along with $ 2.7-2.9 million annually in sales taxes from the retail and entertainment complex, the was never built.
In 2018, Curran forged a partnership between RXR and BSE, who operated the Barclay’s Center and also held the Coliseum lease. The Republican-controlled Nassau County legislature approved the partnership by amending the Coliseum’s lease agreement.
But the problems remained.
Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov sold BSE and his controlling stake in the Brooklyn Nets in August 2019.
By June 2020, during the pandemic shutdown, Prokhorov had defaulted on both the Colosseum lease and $ 100 million in debt from the arena renovation, despite attempts by Curran administration officials to help to negotiate with him.
Nassau Live Center, operated by Florida-based real estate financier Nick Mastroianni II, acquired Prokhorov’s partnership rights with RXR in August 2020.
Mastroianni, who holds the lease of the Colosseum, has announced that it will announce its plans for the arena in the coming months.
Now a potential competitor to the Colosseum – a $ 1.3 billion arena for the islanders along with a retail and entertainment complex – is rising in state-owned Belmont Park, just 15 miles from the Coliseum. The UBS Arena is due to open in autumn.
The new UBS Arena in Elmont on June 9th. Photo credit: Howard Schnapp
“While the pandemic uncertainty and the departure of the former Colosseum tenant delayed plans for the HUB, the project is very well on track,” Curran said in email responses to Newsday questions.
“The town [of Hempstead] is reviewing the plans submitted by the hub developer, the community is engaged again and we are working on a groundbreaking in early 2022, “said Curran.
Some developers and lawmakers in the county say the hub project could benefit from the effects of the pandemic. The cultural shift towards working from home has led RXR to double its amenities and coworking spaces, officials said.
“There are housing trends that change from decade to decade, but the flexibility to work from home will remain,” said Rebecca D’Eloia, RXR project leader, in an interview.
In “redesigning the site plans,” RXR executives say they are aware that remote health care has taken up a larger chunk of the market.
With Northwell Health signed as the hub project’s anchor tenant, plans to build innovation spaces in healthcare are likely to play a major role in the revised plans, developers and local officials said.
Hempstead Town Supervisor Donald Clavin, a Republican, said the hub “plans are changing – the whole world is being reset” but called the project “the shot in the arm we all need”.
Dorothy Goosby, Senior Town Council Member of Hempstead, co-chair of Curran’s 15-member Nassau Hub Community Benefits Advisory Committee, said the pandemic “did not stop the project, it just slowed it down”.
Goosby said the committee will work with community groups at future meetings to identify the needs of residents in the areas around the development so that an agreement can be reached on a community performance plan before the groundbreaking ceremony.
“We’re not giving up, we’re going to win this tournament,” said Goosby.
“I’ve been trying to move things forward in the Hub for the past 10 years and I’ve never been so optimistic.”
Kevin Law, past President and CEO of the Long Island Association
Kevin Law, the other co-chair of the committee and past president and CEO of the Long Island Association, said the political environment and market demand following the pandemic had increased his optimism about the Hub project.
“I’ve been trying to move things forward in the Hub for the past 10 years and I’ve never been more optimistic,” said Law, partner and executive vice president at Tritec Real Estate Co., based in East Setauket.
Unlike previous attempts to redevelop the hub, Democrats and Republicans in the county and Hempstead governments are agreeing on a conceptual plan to match the local development, Law said.
The prospect of shoveling in the ground in nine months is closer than ever to a zoning plan for the site, Law noted.
“Neither side wants a mistake to be made on their watch,” he said.
Candice Ferrette reports on the government and politics of Nassau County, Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.