It’s hardly the Dodgers going to Los Angeles, but another major sports franchise is leaving Brooklyn.
The New York Islanders, who moved from their suburban home to Brooklyn in 2015, have won a bid to build a new arena on the grounds of the Belmont Park horse track.
State officials confirmed the deal Wednesday ahead of a formal announcement at the racetrack, which is home to the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown.
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The National Hockey League team beat out a bid from the New York City FC soccer team, which envisioned building a stadium on the site just east of New York City.
The Islanders played at the Nassau Coliseum from its inception in 1972 until 2015, winning the Stanley Cup every year from 1980 to 1983. The move to the Brooklyn arena was greeted with displeasure by fans, who always considered the team to be a Long Island staple. The team is last in average attendance this year in the league.
Not surprisingly, fans applauded the reports the team would be headed back across the city limits to Nassau County.
“It’s long overdue,” Matt Herbert said during the Islanders’ 5-3 loss to Detroit on Tuesday night.
The Massapequa resident said he attends two or three games a season in Brooklyn, compared with 10 or 12 when the team played at the Coliseum. He expected to return to that number in the new arena.
“It’ll be good for (the team) to come back home,” he added. “(Barclays Center) is not ours, it feels like we’re renting this. But that place will be ours. It’ll be great.”
The Islanders submitted a development bid for a portion of the Belmont complex in September with several partners, including owners of the New York Mets and Madison Square Garden. A spokesman for the partners declined comment on Tuesday.
The state-run Empire State Development Corp announced in July a request for proposals to develop vacant and underutilized parking lots at the site of the racetrack. The state also solicited bids to develop the land in 2012 but wound up scrapping all proposals a year ago.
TO: Howard Zemsky, President
FROM: Holly Leicht, EVP, Real Estate Development & Planning
DATE: December 19, 2017
SUBJECT: Belmont Park Redevelopment - Conditional Designation of New York
Arena Partners (“NYAP”) as Developer
After a thorough review and evaluation process, the Belmont Park Redevelopment Selection
Committee has conditionally designated the New York Arena Partners (“NYAP”) to redevelop up
to 43 acres of property owned by the Franchise Oversight Board (“FOB”) at Belmont Park,
located at 2150 Hempstead Turnpike Elmont, NY 11003, on two parking lots identified as Site A
and Site B (collectively, the “Sites”).
NYAP proposes to build a mixed-use entertainment complex that will include an approximately
60,000-square foot, 18,000-seat multi-use arena that will be home to the New York Islanders; a
435,000-square foot retail, dining and entertainment village; a 193,000-square foot hotel; and
10,000 square feet of offices and parking (see Proposed Site Plan attached). The proposed
project and any contractual documentation remain subject to all public approval processes as
required by law, including but not limited to review by the ESD Directors.
I. Background
The Sites are located entirely within the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County. Site A is located
north of Hempstead Turnpike on approximately 15 acres. It is adjacent to the western end of
the Belmont Park clubhouse and is bordered to the west by the Belmont Park spur of the Long
Island Railroad, with five tracks and four platforms. Site B is located south of Hempstead
Turnpike and contains a total of approximately 28 acres. Portions of Site A and all of Site B are
surface parking lots which are primarily used once a year for the Belmont Stakes.
II. Selection Process
On July 31, 2017, Empire State Development (ESD) issued a Request for Proposals (the “RFP”)
seeking proposals to redevelop up to 43 acres of land. Respondents had to submit a Base Plan
that called for the development of 36 acres on Site A and Site B, which are two parking lots
located north and south of Hempstead Turnpike that are used once a year for the Belmont
Stakes. Respondents were also allowed to submit proposals that included an additional 7 acres
of land adjacent to Site A, referred to as an Alternative Plan. The conditionally designated
proposal constitutes NYAP’s Alternative Plan.
Interested parties and Local Elected Officials (LEOs) were offered a site tour of the Sites on
August 16 and 17. On September 28, 2017, three proposals were received in response to the
RFP, and on October 26, 2017, the three teams were invited to in-person presentations and a
question-and-answer session held at ESD. On December 4, 2017, one of the respondents
notified ESD to withdraw their submission.
ESD sent draft term sheets to the respondents on November 21, 2017. The deadline for
respondents to submit counter-offers was December 4, 2017. Meetings were held on
December 8, 2017 with the remaining two respondents to discuss the term sheets. ESD sent
revised terms sheets to the respondents on December 12, 2017, and best and final offers
(“BAFO Term Sheets”) were due to ESD on December 18, 2017.
To review the proposals, ESD formed five Technical Committees: 1) Real Estate and Economic
Impacts, 2) Finance, 3) Environmental Review, Planning and Design, 4) Community Benefits, and
5) Procurement and Diversity Practices, totaling 12 ESD staff members and outside
environmental consultants. A four-person Selection Committee was formed to evaluate and
score the proposals, comprising two staff members from the ESD Real Estate and Planning
Department, a member of ESD Contract Administration, and a staff member from the Real
Estate Services group at the Office of General Services (OGS). Both the Technical Committees
and the Selection Committee prepared questions for each team to respond to in writing and
helped draft the term sheets that were sent to each team to complete.
On a parallel track, ESD engaged in a robust community engagement process. Local Elected
Officials held a community listening session on July 10, 2017 to solicit public input to inform the
RFP before it was finalized and released. ESD briefed all Local Elected Officials on the three
proposals on November 28, 2017, as well as the Long Island REDC Executive Committee on
December 7, 2017. The State Local Elected Officials held a second community listening session
at Elmont High School on December 10, 2017, where both respondents presented their
proposals and answered written questions from the public over the course of two hours.
Approximately 180 people attended, and there was extensive press coverage. The LEOs
provided an email address to which the public could submit additional comments, and over 120
comments were submitted and shared with the Selection Committee.
After reviewing all of the materials submitted and having the opportunity to ask each team
additional questions, the Selection Committee scored the proposals on a scale from 1 to 10
(with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) on the following criteria, which were listed
on page 15 of the RFP:
A. Development Experience and Financial Strength (10%)
o Respondent's ability to meet Qualifying Organization requirements
o Respondent's capacity as demonstrated by the entities represented in the
consortium, if relevant or development team is assembled
o Respondent's financial strength as indicated by the materials provided in the
submission
o Demonstrated understanding of the potential private capital sources available for a
project of this type
B. Financial Offer (20%)
o Base Rent
C. Overall Project (30%)
o Extent to which proposed Project strengthens Belmont as a premier destination for
entertainment, sports, recreation, retail and hospitality on Long Island
o Overall economic benefits of the Project, including but not limited to local jobs and
local economic impacts that supports community revitalization and sustainability
D. Project Design and Timing (30%)
o Proposed Project development and construction plan
o Proposed retail and commercial development strategy
o Innovative technical solutions to enhance design, construction and/or operations
E. Diversity Practices (5%)
o ESD's Office of the Contractor and Supplier Diversity will score each application of
Diversity Practices using the attached Diversity Scoring Matrix in Appendix E. Up to
five percent (5%) will be awarded based upon the contents of the Diversity Practices
Questionnaire in Appendix E, submitted by each Respondent to the RFP.
F. Community Benefit (5%)
o Projected Expenditures, construction costs, annual operating costs and other direct
spending that will help spur economic activity, including job creation and any other
programs or public benefits the Respondent may undertake or provide on behalf of
the community.
Based on this evaluation process, NYAP scored the highest. In the judgment of the Selection
Committee, the NYAP proposal would bring economic benefit to the area in a manner
consistent with the goals of the RFP.
PROPOSED SITE PLAN |
DANG 