ToH’s LIGHTHOUSE REDUCTION WILL BE SEVERE
Source: Nassau County will stand by Charles Wang
Friday, 11:15 pm: Multiple sources have informed Point Blank that Kate Murray’s counter-vision to the Lighthouse Project will be unveiled in the coming week, possibly as early as a Monday media roll-out and press conference. In what will come as no surprise to veteran followers of this saga, Murray’s consultants at F. P. Clark are said to have reduced the scale of the project by more than 50%.
When that happens, Islanders owner Charles Wang will not have to publicly reject the Lighthouse push-back of the Town of Hempstead supervisor and her Westchester-based consultants. It will go without saying.
However, in what may come as a surprise, a Nassau County source tells Point Blank that County Executive Edward Mangano is preparing to support Wang and his Lighthouse partner Scott Rechler on their efforts to develop the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum property and surrounding 73 acres - and keep the Islanders in Nassau County.
“We know Wang is earnest in wanting the Islanders to stay in Nassau, and not even move them as close as Queens,” said the county source. “Ed Mangano believes in the same thing. The County Executive is going to work with the Islanders. Charles knows that already. If the Town reduces the Lighthouse Project as drastically as we believe they will, no one’s going to be happy. But it’s not going to mean the end of the Islanders in Nassau. Far from it.”
Once it is revealed, count on the estimates of Murray and F. P. Clark’s down-sizing to be spin-doctored by all sides. Murray is going to approve the massive overhaul of the Coliseum for obvious reasons; like the rest of the project, the developers are paying for it. The Town will likely approve the Athletic Complex because it will be valuable to the Islanders, Nassau and Hempstead.
The rest is tricky. For example, the Lighthouse Project - developed by Wang at a personal cost of a reported $20 million, approved by Nassau County four years ago - calls for 2,300 residential units. Rumors have circulated that Murray has been considering cutting the figure by as much 75%. Wang and Rechler’s approved proposal included 500,000 square feet of retail space. Count on Hempstead’s counter to be for less than half. Wang has consistently said that his deep investment in the Coliseum transformation does not make sense without potentially profitable components such as residential and retail.
Not including parking, the total size of the Lighthouse Project is more than six million square feet. Rumors suggest F. P. Clark and the Town - paid $150,000 by Murray for the counter-proposal - could market their down-sizing as five million square feet but including two million square feet of parking.
If so, Wang may stay quiet, as he has since Oct. 3, but the status of his Designated Developer Agreement with Nassau would be unclear and he would have no choice but to consider alternatives for a home for his Islanders. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is open to the Islanders moving to Queens. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy would no doubt take Wang’s call.
According to the county source, Nassau does not want to see a courtship of the Islanders by other municipalities. The county is prepared to stand up for Wang and the Islanders. Mangano has a financial crisis to solve under his leadership. He doesn’t want the Islanders going anywhere and he knows Wang can help him more than any other developer. Of course, Mangano needs the Town of Hempstead to work with him on the Coliseum property.
After a quiet nine months, the battle for the Coliseum property and to keep the Islanders in Nassau is about to begin again. This time, the Islanders appear to have Ed Mangano on their side.
Comments.
Not sure what to think about this. I think it’s anyone’s guess right now what Charles Wang will actually do.
the whole thing has managed to become a joke, a nightmare, a train wreck, a disaster and a laughing stock all at the same time.
Sounds like it could be worse. You’d have to assume they’ll meet somewhere near halfway between this and Wang’s vision, and with Mangano siding with us, I think we’ll see more of the retail get back in. Housing will almost certainly have to be sacrificed, but that’s okay by me.
Seems as bad as expected, maybe worse. Hopefully, Mangano can have an impact here.
devon… that’s fine it’s ok by you but you need residents to go shopping in the retail. one goes hand in hand with the other.
I’m so sick of all this Lighthouse stuff, I don’t know if I can take another round of this. As a lifelong Isles fan who has always lived in NJ, I’m to the point where I would sign up right now to go to Queens. I would love for them to stay where they are but we have waited more than long enough. I’m sick of reading about how the Coliseum is a disaster and we will never bring in free agents. Even if they broke ground now on this “scaled down” project, how long would it take to complete? We should probably make sure there is a new building in time for the free agency of players like Tavares and Okposo, who may say all the right things now, but would probably bail on us in a few years if they are still playing in the same crappy old arena.
Hopefully Wang doesn’t arrange for Garth Snow to take Mangano’s place. This has been a nutty week, to say the least. Can Wang call Kovalchuk’s agent directly?
Chris, great work as always. I sure hope that Mangano truly supports Wang and gets it done in Nassau.
Wang is the last guy you should be upset with. Make no mistake about it, without this guy, and our sweet cablevision deal from our buddies at MSG, this team would be long gone. Whatever comes of all of this, Wang will most likely go down as someone who did every possible thing he could to keep the Isles in Long Island, or at least in Queens.
I don’t know what to make of this. I have to believe they will meet somewhere in the middle. I guess having a Republican County Executive on Charles Wang’s side may help. The good news is that counter proposal to Wang’s original plan will be presented. Now they can negotiate. PLEASE NO MORE POLITICAL SHANANIGANS! Get it done!
Don’t see how they have Mangano on their side. His biggest donator was Al D’Amato who is pushing for the Shinecock casino and Mangano just last month hired D’Aamato’s daughter to work in his office.
ToH purposely downsized the project to a point that Wang would HAVE to reject it in order to clear the Lighthouse and get the Casino built ASAP.
Hope you’re right CB, but I find it a little difficult to believe that Mangano and Murray would be on completely different pages with this. Like I said though, hopefully you are right.
This organization is at a critical turning point in its future.
I care about winning hockey games. In order for that to happen, we’ll eventually need to spend some $$$$$$$$$$$. That isn’t happening until Wang starts making some instead of losing it. I hope this process is worth it in the end. Lord knows Islanders fans deserve it after all we’ve been through.
Kate has played games from day one. Nothing seems to have changed. What a joke. Mangano should be able to push her along and help her see the light-house.
Round and Round and Round it Goes … Where it Stops … Nobody Knows!!!
Anyone get the feeling they’re at some sort of carnival?
Well … CB has prepared us for this a long time ago … The waiting game is nothing new to us. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
In the mean time lets enjoy this prospect scrimmage.
naturally i dont know what to make of all of this
Maybe make up for some of that lost development revenue by putting in more seats at the renovated arena … I propose 19,080 seats … makes sense in a way… eh?
Once again, more speculation, but based on your report, I think it’s in play.
For all the posturing that went on in the past year, the project as originally proposed is not economically feasible in today’s economy and could not be funded–except through government–which I would NEVER support. Indeed, if the project had started 2 1/2 years ago–it might be a white elephant today.
Sure Wang/Rechler want approval for the moon. Why not? So long as they ultimately control how much of the moon they actually finance and build–based on their economic forecasts, no one elses.
At this point, the smartest move would be to find a way to get the Islanders into Brooklyn where an arean is actually being built. Alas, too many egos, side business deals, and fights over control probably make that a pipe dream too absent a last minute desperate move to keep the Islanders from going someplace else.
My last thought is that CW should get 100 units of additional housing for every million dollars he goes above the cap floor.
I don’t trust the TOH or Nassau County as far an I can throw them and all this means is another year of back and forth bulls***. Wang needs to start looking for a new home for team, this off ice crap has to end.
i just cant wait for it to be over. i just hope that when its all done, they stay exactly where they are.
From a New Jersey Islander fan I must say, Wang presented his vision of the LH project many years ago. He has been waiting ever since for it to be approved or denied. No one in the TOH or KM has given Wang a yes or no answer for over 6+ years. Wangs deadline to recevie a yes or no answer was last October. Since that time he has kept quiet. His silence has spoken volumes, I (IMO) think the KM reduced version of the LH is all in vain. If Wang does not answer with a counter proposal and keeps quiet, then I think we have the answer all us Islander fans have been waiting for: Wang will leave NVMC and head to Queens.
1st point: Kate pays a Westchester firm to work on the lighthouse. Are you telling me there were none qualified on Long Island?
2nd point: Wang asked her what she wanted before his plans were made. He asked the T.O.H. what it would take to get this built. They told him to come up with a proposal, but did not specify what would be acceptable, so Wang went all out. I, as many, thought it looked great on paper and the video, but if they wanted to cut it back, OK., cut it back a bit, more than 50%?? I don’t understand all the arrogant political posturing by the T.O.H. I don’t think they are being shtuped enough (that is slang for being illegally funded). I have never had a good experience dealing with the T.O.H–They are the reason for changing my political allegiance. Who ever voted for these clowns again should really be ashamed, they are disgusting. As much as I love this team I know in my heart they would be better off in Queens. Where ever you are, Isles–Isle be there!
One more thing. Mangano has not done a thing to help our cause since he has been in office. Until I see something being done, the rest is just the usual,”I will say the right thing and in the end , do nothing”. Don’t believe it. They had over six yrs to make this right,to no avail!
Time for action! We have had decade of words. Get the deal done and the shovel in the ground! They start now, by the time it is done, we will have an excellent young team on the ice.
I was at Citifield tonight. The Mets do a lot of cross-promotion with the Isles (well, it seems like a lot for two completely different sports). I also see a lot of Isles apparel at Citifield worn by fans–this isn’t too significant because I think fans of perpetual losing teams are drawn to other perpetual losers, but I think the writing is on the wall… and my personal belief is that the Isles are moving to Queens. This reduced LHP seems to come too little too late as well as Mangano’s sudden support.
Just move to Suffolk. I’d much rather that then driving into grimy queens
Queens…Do it!
Just move to Queens already, I took the LIRR to Citi Field today and it was great having mass transit available to go to a game.
Suddenly we are all little Wangers making residential/commercial real estate demands?
I hope they move to Queens and Wang sells them off to an experienced sports businessman with realistic expectations and goals. This Centry Twenty-Wang fiasco is maddening. Rememeber when you were a kid a hockey was a fun game to watch - not a lesson in local corrupt politics and greed real estate moguls?
Is a stable home, a sane owner and a decent roster too much to ask for?
we all knew this was coming. No surprise here. Just happy to hear that Mangano sounds to be on the Isles’ side.
Go to Queens Charles. Mangano may want the Isles to stay because he wants a cut as well as D’Amato.
Yeah…i feel this is just prolonged nonsense. I’m all for Queens as well…the way this has been handled is disgusting.
As a Canadian and a life-long die-hard Islander fan from the Dynasty days, I’ve felt like someone died in the family everytime news of a possible move hit the press: I like the move to Queens though, and the Mets connection….the NHL got too big for Long Island, time to leave the burbs and move to the city, still the same area and this will bring the much needed money to keep this team together when they mature and start to win…otherwise, get used to being a development NHL feeder team for wealthier clubs.
I still think, that Atlantic Avenue Brooklyn is the best place if Nassau doesn’t happen. Also can M Prokhorov buy at least part of this team? We sure can use an owner like him. That would be just great! And they wouldn’t have to build it, just move in in 2015, when the lease is over.I suspect there would be very few problems moving Russian prospects from KHL to play here.
I said it 2 years ago, I said it a year ago at the meetings, I said it 3 months ago and im saying it today. The Islanders will play in Nassau County. This project will be built in some form. Lets get it going. One poster said that it needs to be done before Tavares and othe young players need contracts when they are unrestricted or event restricted. Lets get this done Soon! THe Islanders are staying on long Island where they belong. Maybe they can hold a practice at a Queens rink or something.
I hope Wang sells the team. He’s not a very good businessman, and he’s certainly not good at running a hockey club. Good luck filling 2300 residential units in Uniondale, right near a Coliseum and a highway. Anyone here actually excited to go shopping in that area? I know I’d never go there… Charles Wang isn’t going to move the team, because he doesn’t ACTUALLY care about the hockey club, or the fans. He cares about making more money, because the fortune he has isn’t enough. Thousands support his real estate project and put up with budget cuts and a bottom-feeding hockey club, all so that they can raise the prices on just about everything. Doesn’t sound fair to me.
I sincerely hope this drama comes to a conclusion one way or the other sometime soon. It’s been a dark cloud over the organization for way too long and I’d rather not hear about it any more. Either approve it or don’t and move on. Survival of the team is paramount whether it be in Nassau, Queens or Kings county.
CB - excellent work the past several days with the interviews and entertaining information. Thanks for making the summer withdrawal more tolerable.
CB: 1) Will you be live covering the press conference if/when it happens?
2) Can we get your critical analysis of the draft/free agency.
As always love your work!!
Im for moving to Queens, this team needs to turn the page and start over and rebuild just like we are with the young talent. Im afraid we build this thing in Hempstead and enthusiasm fades eventually. Hempstead is not a city….its a town. Lets move to a metropolitan city that people have HEARD of! I hope Wang sees this and has the vision to look at the long term posabilities/advantages of being with in NYC limits. If we have a young exciting talented team that can attract a tremendous following of people from NJ, CT, the 5 boroughs, and of course LI we are building a sustainable franchise that is profitable and healthy. Im born and bred from long island now living in Vancouver BC, but I want this team in Queens.
Wang should tell Nassau County, and especially Kate Murphy, to go scratch and move the team to Queens, where I will buy many, many tickets to see my beloved Isles play (and then take my drunk a** home on the 7 train).
I don’t see this as bad as I thought it would be..I agree with one of the posters on here..they could possibley meet somewhere in the middle..which is not a bad thing..
good reduce it…I dont want a mini city in LI, and if wang cant take not have all his apartments, and from retail stores that would slaughter roosevelt field and just make more traffic in a congested LI, then move to queens just one LIRR round trip ticket away…
don’t need too much retail there. Most of the stores in The Source mall are out of business and 85% empty. If not for the 2 restaurants, the entire place would be a ghost town. There is also empty retail by the raceway area. This economy doesn’t need more retail space.
When I read ANY article in regard to the Lighthouse project, I hear CIRCUS music in my head…but I appreciate 110% the info CB and this site provide. I just hope the circus music goes away soon…its like Silence of the Lambs instead its silence of the circus. Good thing Im a 41yr old diehard Isles fan…
no suprises here.
and once again, the real deal (or ’story behind the story’)isn’t mentioned, other than in a couple of reader comments.
queens would be fine, except the whispers are stronger that the wilpons’ grip over there is tenuous and getting weaker, which would complicate and delay things.
i’m with those stalwarts who hang onto to the Brooklyn/AY idea, and the reuniting of the 2 long island teams. brooklyn is indeed ON LONG ISLAND, and i don’t see a downside other than those longtime season ticket holders who might face a longer trip to the games. aside from that, the idea is a ripe plum for all if the right partnership or whatever could be worked out. maybe the absence of any noise from the potential parties on that front actually says a lot. here’s to hoping for that!
Sounds like more of the same. I’m so sick of the LH nonsence at this point. I’m just looking forward to watching the prospects scrimmage tonight. At least they are ALL Islanders!
Wang will counter obviously. It is straight up negotiating. If he doesn’t want to do that than sell. I just read FISH STICKS for the first time. What has Wang brought us? One playoff series win! I really don’t know how we would survive without him (sarcasm). If he put the team up for sale…there would be a line of RICH egomaniacs ready to take their turn on owning a pro-franchise. By the way leaving Nassau County is the worst thing that can happen to Long Island. Why?
1. We have a pro-team in the suburbs. Do you people realize how unique that is?
2. If Islanders move to Queens they are just another city team. The charm of the Islanders would be gone and Long Island would be devoid of any type of pro-sport. The DUCKS don’t count.
3. The Isles have an arena with great sitelines. We don’t need to build a new one. Why can’t we have an old building ala Wrigley or Fenway to compete? Although, CW claims he loses 20 million a year..which I don’t belive..the building is not the reason we don’t get free agents. Take the scaled down project, KEEP THE ISLES WHERE THEY ARE, All players in the NHL care about are winning stable teams. How many people have been to Joe Louis Arena. I would rather watch a game at the Coliseum anytime. Bottom line is CW has lost his usefulness as a white knight. He really is using the ISLES as a puppet for his real estate deal. Anything else is just a smokescreen. He may have had good intentions when he first started but those times are long gone. The man is bitter and will spite the TOH and Nassau County. Watch. Sell CW.
Here we go, Kate’s stooges are invading PointBlank.
Rich M is right on. The Coliseum is the best for viewing any event and I too have been too many of the arenas. Just refurb the barn, take the useless exhibition hall and make that the locker room areas and training facilities!!! Keep the coliseum and the Islanders!!!!!
More gridlock, more political chicanery, no new arena in the near future for Wang.
2015 is only 4 1/2 years away.
Rich M: the Ilitches are looking desperately to find a new place to build a replacement for Joe Louis, so citing it as the model the Islanders should follow is highly uninformed.
You know, I hear the Bridgeport arena has great sight lines. Maybe we should build something like that instead of the Coliseum.
And in your defense of the Coliseum, and the call to let it be, please know that the place is a total fire trap. Everybody in the fire business knows it. Yet you sing its praises.
Your statements indicate you have paid no attention in recent years to the state of arena development, what teams need to generate revenues, and the fact that agents have said to Garth Snow: your building is a problem. (Ryan Smith’s agent was very clear on this). You aren’t going to win unless you get a building that can attract players. To say the building doesn’t matter shows, again, you are mouthing Kate Murray/Anthony Santino nonsesne and you know almost nothing of the way the world works.
Quebec here they come, their arena is 30% done with no team and will be complete. You have a built in fanbase. The timeing of the end of the lease is perfect. 18000 season tix from day 1.
What would you do/
Everything doesnt have to be panic and hysteria and change owners and all that. I dont like any of these politicians, but there are logocal reasons why Mangano might actually work with the LH group here. Lets just see what happens here… ranting and divisiveness will accomplish absolutely nothing.
Rich M(43) What playoff series win are you even referring to?
I agree with IslesIsles2010(44)- here we go- again.
I guess I don’t understand why the County has confidence the Isles won’t go anywhere if the County “works” with them after the TOH gives basically gives Wang the middle finger on his project. If it is not feasible to spend the money they will have to spend to renovate the NVMC without the other parts of the project, why would Wang/Rechtler spend the money to do so? The County surely won’t be in a position to contribute. What does the County mean in saying they will support/work with Wang?
Can this please end.
As an Isles fan from Bay Ridge…the Isles home is NVMC (I love going to games). It should always stay that way. But as most Isles fans…this just has dragged on for too long. (I feel like Kate Murray is an ex-girlfriend I cnt get rid of…)
Hopefully Wang, Murray and Mangano get this right. With 2015 around the corner and the way the prospects are looking-the Isles are going to be very good team soon. The last thing people would want to see is them moving…even if its to Queens/Brooklyn. But at this point-I wouldnt blame Wang if he moved out Nassau.
Lets Go Islanders.
47, couldn’t agree with you more. It seems to me that the county just wants Wang to renovate the old barn and have a minimal amount of the original plan left over which would benefit the county and obviously not Wang since it wouldn’t provide enough profitable revenue to support the team. I still don’t understand the “support and work with” Wang comments when they are not providing a feasible and realistic alternative option. I just hope that our worst fears don’t come true in the sense that we will be watching our young talent grow somewhere else.
Tick tock tick tock…
GET IT DONE!
How pathetic is it that a Town Supervisor–not a governor or Senator, but someone who gets a few hundred votes in a winning election, gets to have this much influence?
if it has a new renovated building and a few resturants he should take it cause to me thats all that really matters. i hate kate but still this has gone on long enough
Mangano v. Murray. This is a showdown I’d like to see. Wang gets to sit on the sidelines, while Nassau fights Hempstead.
CB, are there any other locations in Nassau County open to Wang’s vision?
There needs to be some compromise here. If the town approves the arena overhaul and the athletic complex, which SHOULD be the most important things here, the retail/residential items should be able to be negotiated. In the current economy, I dont see how Wang fills those? Why not build fewer of those with an agreement to revisit future expansion in 5-10 years if the economy is better? Enough of this crap already. This is embarrassing.
At this point who really cares anymore?
Sell the team and let them move to Queens.
That is the only way this team will ever be good again Wang needs to go let someone who cares about the Islanders and hockey buy them all wang has ever cared about was this lighthouse MESS.
enough is enough - whether the deal gets done or they move to Queens we will not see a arena change in at least 4-5 years. I prefer to focus on whether this years roster will give the isles a fighting chance at a playoff spot or will it be same as it has been for 12 of the last 15 years - a roster with no realistic shot at competing.
The glory years are so long ago that my kids and most young fans are losing interest. Like it or not we are and have been for quite some time the “Micky Mouse organization” of the NHL.
We have the worst arena in all of professional sports, and many minor league facilities outclass our arena.
We have management/ownership that make bizarre decisions with no real logic or explanation. The fact that Pat Lafontaine (one of the nicest individuals i have ever met in all sports) broke off all ties with them should have told us something a long time ago. We replaced Peter Laviolette for no good reason. We tossed Ted Nolan after everyone admitts he got his teams to overachieve. And lastly instead of embracing CB and Point Blank the team tries to undermine the most popular blog it has. Bizarre behavior.
Yet who is insane - the fans or management.
The definition of insane is doing the same thing over and over and expecting something different. We keep coming back every year and spending time and money and get nothing close to what we saw in 1993.
Since Torrey and Arbours touch have been absent this team has floundered and displayed some bizarre behavior - new arena or no new arena.
“…Mangano needs the Town of Hempstead to work with him…” Sounds like the tail wagging the dog. There’s a lot of money at stake here in the form of taxes, both sales and real estate and in jobs both short term (construction) and long term. Not to mention the supporting local businesses which will thrive and multiply. The county and the TOH is run by the same party, so the bosses should get their priorities straight and start thinking of the economic impact to the residents and not their own interests. Now THAT would be groundbreaking.
I think Wang is now in the drivers seat. I find it to much of a coincidence that Murray kicked her counter porposal into high gear soon after Mangano announced that he was talking casino. I don’t think Murray wants a casino as her legacy for the TOH. She does not have the power to stop a casino either.To save face, she allows the LHP on a smaller scale. Wang will push back and they meet in the middle or he goes to Queens—-IMO
For those people who STILL think a few restaurants and a renovated Coli will do, please remember that in this plan CW pays all the development and renovation costs, so there must be enough profit coming back to get financing and make the risk/investment worthwhile. And I don’t think this plan does that. Unless y’all want public subsidies and higher taxes….I didn’t think so.
You gotta believe if CW was going to move the team, he would have announced it by now. He obviously doesn’t want to even to a place close by. If Big Ol’ Kate is gonna cut it down by 50%, CW will probably counter offer and it’ll end up around 70% of the original size.
In the original proposal, Brian, Wang said several times that the project would be a section at a time, and every section would require approval from the T.O.H. So realistically, the humps at hemp could at any time revise the plan, so I don’t get the delay. I went to no lass then 6 L.H meetings, some of them had thousands of people all in favor. Why are Kate and co, still so resistant? The only answer is their pockets are not being lined enough.I thought the town had an obligation to listen to the people, instead of doing what they want regardless of what thousands of their constituents want. Keep the team somewhere in N.Y and screw them, they have been screwing with us for years.
Everyone needs to take a step back:
1) Wang and his developers will never be able to float the $4 billion necessary to get his project moving; even a 50% reduction who is going to buy his unsecured bonds…based on residential condos…good luck getting buyers who can even obtain a mortgage or retail stores? What revenues could bondholders expect to pay off the interest? How about the good business ethics of Charles Wang?
2) Once TOH rejects his original plan…Wang will keep the team to 2015 in order to recoup some of his losses based on concerts, concessions and parking and blame the TOH (all the while blaming TOH).
3) the team will eventually be sold to the Wilpons or prokorov; and
4) Having a state of the art arena without public transprotation is flawed..ask the Devils this was one of the many reasons they moved…in order to expand the base that could attend the games.
This has been an odd week for the Isles. Some of it by their own hand, some out of their control. Of course the Hooples were waiting for this week to announce. They wanted to time it so it would play the best.
The recent front office movings and lack of PR response is disturbing to me. The organization seems to want to operate in some kind of PR/Communications vacuum and I don’t think they see just how much it hurts the bottom line.
My own view is to see the Isles in Queens. They need to get away from the mob operation that is the Town of Hempstead. I think it would be best for the Isles and their fans to be at Willits Point.
Just sell the team already. Enough of this. How much can whoever is left following this “team” take? This is pain and suffering that never ends.
TOH: same old BS, round and round we go. Now they want reduce LHP more the 50/60 percent. Mangano didn’t like new lease aggreement and wants a casino. I don’t trust anything Nassau County GOP says. Wang keeps schrinking staff makes me think he has already started the sale of Isles to the Wilpons.
Just ask the main question - how much money does Al D’Amato want to get this done in a format acceptable to Wang?
Since taking office, Ed Mangano has been doing the work of three men. Unfortunately they are Moe, Larry & Shemp.
I had a nightmare last night that Kate Murry is related to Ann Murry and this is all a plot to move the Islanders to Canada.
A Casino near the colessium.
I can see it now, rolling the dice at the crap table saying: “C’mon, Daddy needs a new pair of high scoring forwards.”
L.I. has absolutely no need for any more shopping malls or high-density tenements, so this is fine with me.
So we’re clear: Wins = Profits.
To get them you need to Win. That’s all. Not build malls, or 10K units of shoddy housing the island doesn’t want or need.
Nobody anywhere near this team has even bothered to consider that idea in the last 15 years, including most of the hardcore “fans” who will die to see whatever it is Wang wants done, whether or not it is a good idea for the team or the island.
What a mess!!I’m tired of the Isles financial issues.Sell the team Mr.Wang,PLEASE!!!
I’m getting a little sick of this. All they are doing in renovating the current building. Why on earth would they not at least apply for those permits and start that and then worry about the other land later. Hell I would not even waste my time and money renovating since a brand new state of the art building would be much nicer for everyone. Someone just end this the fans are sick of hearing about it and if this does get done I do not want to hear anyone say that no one wants to come because of the building for at least 40 years.
So far no surprising news has come out yet. The ToH & Charles B. Wang have always had a very, very different vision of the area. It looks like now we can put ‘the difference’ into a number range, 50-75% different. Imho, an insurmountable difference. Can Charles B. Wang recoup his losses on this deal? Probably. Especially when you factor in instead of supposedly investing 4 billion he needs to invest 2 billion or less. The lowered initial investment is part of the equation as well. Add in the fact The Developer would NEVER get the financing for a 4 billion dollar project anyway, it might be a blessing. Also, if The Developer accepts the proposal he’s got the option of selling pieces of the Development to his friends. Sterling Equities gets a piece, heck even the Milsteins maybe interested. By selling off parts parts the project he can get immediate liquid cash, instead of ‘waiting for a return on investment’. My vote? Take the deal, make MILLIONS on the back-end and Save The Islanders. But it’s not my decision to make.
I love those of you like Ethan K who think Charles should sell the team because he’s not a good businessman. LOL, OMG just shows what assholes so many truly are. Wang is a brilliant business man, and has been the best owner we’ve seen since the glory days. He’s put up hundreds of millions of his own money, and has never wavered from his loyalty to the team. He has shown patience, and if you’ve read Trump’s Art of the Deal, patience is key. He has brilliantly handled KATE MURRAY’S 6+ year stall tactic and has show resolve like no other. He took CA from nothing to a global giant, and has successful real estate written all over his brow.
It’s the fools out there who haven’t the foggiest of what they’re saying.
Thanks Charles…
Wang shoots for the stars with a massive project…Murray shoots it down by 75%…hopefully they meet somewhere in the middle. This is how business negotiations work.
Anyhow…at least we’re close to getting a decision…hopefully.
Look, CW is a businessman, plain and simple. And regardless of what some of the above comments state, he is a good businessman. If you know anything about his history and what he has accomplished, you know that. This is how negotiations work. I’m sure he knew his original plan was a little too big to be accepted. So TOH comes back with less than they’re actually willing to settle for. This all leads to getting a deal done somewhere in the middle of what each has proposed. I’m fine with that, as long as it gets done reasonably soon. Even if an agreement can be reached before the end of the hockey season, which I don’t think is an unreasonable time frame (although knowing TOH, there is no such thing as “reasonable”) then I can deal with that because it means when next summer’s Paul Martin asks Garth, “What’s the deal with the arena?” Garth can tell him it’s a done deal. Might make the difference. Just get Murray’s selfishness and greed out of the way and get something done.
@shremp 13 post #25
Not all of Queens is grimy. There are just as many “grimy” parts of Long Island.
I would absolutely love it if they came to Queens - my favorite team in the borrough I’ve lived my whole life. Awesome!
See ya guys at the Light House … Uh I mean at the arena.
Both sides need to make a deal and get this done. LI cannot afford to lose the Isles. Isles have many options inside and outside of NY.
Just do something, ANYTHING at this point.
Comments on the Lighthouse Project and future of the Islanders ONLY in this thread. Offensive language will result in you know what. Thank you.
I think as this process is now taking a serious turn everyone with an opinion should review Nick Giglia’s LetThereBeLighthouse website. Specifically, the article on the economics of new arenas. I fear that some still don’t understand some economic realities that MUST be understood and considered in forming opinions.
Kate is a joke and a fool.
To lose the Isles and all their tax revenue is irresponsible and unforgivable .
Mangano should wake up and get off his rear and DO SOMETHING.
Frei — 77 — the knee jerk reaction on Long Island is to label any sort of dense residential housing a “tenement.” So other areas keep building these “tenements,” and they are not suffering the brain drain that we are. They’re putting these near rail stations in New Jersey, in Westchester, in Connecticut, and they’re being filled with the next generation of young entrepreneurs and successful business people. Our percentage of housing that is rental is far less than these areas, and we’re paying for it with an exodus of young people. But people like you want to hold to ancient views that a new apartment building is a “tenement.” Keep it up; you’re doing a great job guaranteeing us a future of poor area, rich enclaves like Garden City, and middle class areas turning into communities of senior citizens stuck in their homes because there’s nobody to buy their houses, because we’ve driven away the next generation of Long Islanders with our current housing policies for people in their 20’s.
50% would definitely make going into and leaving Isles games better. A lot quicker. He got all Coliseum revenues already, so he gives up some rental income. Fair. The way he’s run this team, he should be thankful he has the opportunity at all to begin with. If Murray cuts housing a lot, the schools benefit and traffic and water usage/sewage benefit. If businesses to be built are limited, Wang can in the future bring in more when the local businesses can absorb more symbiotic growth. The smaller size can be negotiated for future growth to ensure the developer, the area residents and local businesses can handle it. Future growth can happen then without it harming localities with a major shock. Change is best when measured and carefully expedited.
The athletic complex helps all. The (slightly) smaller downtown can help game goers and local business. The apartments help if not overdone…..too many new residents will cause a crisis in local schools and resources. The rest? Just be smart and see.
This is no surprise to anyone, including Charles Wang. As smart as he is and as astute a businessman as he is I’m sure on his most optimistic day he never believed that he was going to get everything that he included in the Lighthouse project. I believe this will get done and it will be done by Wang. He’s got too much time, energy and money invested to walk away now.
….what? this saga goes on? County behind Wang? Where the TOH plan it was supposed to be ready in June.
dejas vu all over again July 2009 July 2010 and I predict same story 2011 in other words nothing will be resolved and the story will go on and on and on etc.
As i have been saying for a long time, the proposal coming from the TOH is designed for it to be rejected by Wang–Its a face saving way to say they did something–Its his money being spent to re-do the arena so one would think he needs to make a profit on the surrounding development, as would be the case with any other developer–The arena alone isnt a money maker after its rebuilt–Nassau better step up fast and maybe use some law as an end run around the TOH—If Wang got 75% of what he wanted, he would still do it as his profits would be smaller—but he would make a profit for all the risk he would take on
marc on Jul 10th, 2010 12:05:49 said:
Since taking office, Ed Mangano has been doing the work of three men. Unfortunately they are Moe, Larry & Shemp.
just curious. why shemp and not curly?
Sorry Jay, but there’s plenty and I do mean plenty of “affordable” places to live on long island. The problem? Nobody wants to live there, because they’re dumps. What you want to do is keep building “new” housing that is destined to turn into a dump that nobody will want to live in. Then, when everyone leaves, you will complain about brain drain and attempt to build more apartments in a nice area that people will want to live in, until that turns into a dump too.
See that pattern here? Of course you don’t.
If you want to build high-density housing on Long Island, you do it where people don’t want to live already, so that they will want to live there. Not the other way around. Then, all the educated, intelligent, money-earning people you build near to be “desirable” pick up and leave, your property values plummet, and you end up with exclusively low-income residents (see “Tenement”) and soon, your entire island is a simple extension of Brooklyn and Queens with strip malls and apartments as far as the eye can see.
No Thanks. LI does not need to have more land and resources taken up for those type of housing projects. Its a bad idea, should not happen, and will not happen.
Here is one certainty: The Islanders will not be in an un-renovated Coliseum in October 2015. Could be Queens, could be Brooklyn, could be Canada. Won’t be here — Gary Bettman is already on record as saying Isles won’t stay a minute longer than they have to (Legally). If that happens, there will never be a major league team on the Island again (expect the Rangers to move their farm team ASAP).
I think Wang should consider the deal - he can always build more in the future once Murray is gone and tons of jobs and prosperity is brought to a now poor pathetic area. Uniondale looks the same as it did the day we had the last parade down hempstead turnpike.
Just remember, the casino doesn’t need TofH approval, just state and federal recognition. The lack of foresight into the exonomic realities that DO NO ALLOW A 60% REDUCTION to work will result in an arena next to a casino or the team elsewhere. Period. Take it to the bank. CW will NEVER go with this change. Read the story CB posted. Mangano’s casino or the team is gone!!
I know I am going to get BBQ’d for this, but. I agree with Murray. A new arena is great, but as #35 said, just who is going to fill condos between a highway and an arena? Why do we need new retail with the Fortunoff poperty empty?
This team won four cups with an arena only, put a winning team there fans will come, just like they do for WWE and Billy Joel.
Do you know why Wang will reject it? PRIDE!!! To admit that the TOH’s plans may actually work after all thats been done…..no way.
97 dose on Jul 10th, 2010 16:33:05 said:
marc on Jul 10th, 2010 12:05:49 said:
Since taking office, Ed Mangano has been doing the work of three men. Unfortunately they are Moe, Larry & Shemp.
just curious. why shemp and not curly?
That’s just the way I heard the joke.
I think the best solution lies in “futures”. Letting Charles have something along the lines of 45-55% of his original plan as a proposed “phase 1″. As growth develops and fills out the orginal area, he would have first right on the next phase which might contain upwards of 15-25% of the remaining original proposal. This has many benefits, but foremost insures that steady growth follows this needed - albeit massive - proposal.
Traffic, parking, water and sewage aren’t sidebar issues. They matter. Retail requires the footprint of proportionate residential to sustain itself….all these things also require a systematic, and phased approach.
As for the politics - I have no clue as to who thinks what. I do know that the Islanders being one of 30 NHL franchises in the world have options. In the event Nassau falls through, Suffolk would be ideal (as close to the Nassua border as possible). Followed by Queens. But my heart tells me they ain’t goin’ anywhere soon….
To everyone who sells just sell the team, you must not be a real fan or you’d know that without Charlie Wang, this team is long gone by now.
To everyone who says just renovate the Coliseum, you must not have done any homework and not realized that the team cannot make a profit with just a renovated arena.
Please do your research before making the same old tired silly statements!
I think Wang would be foolish to work with Mangano. Mangano wants a casino and has Al D’amato on his side, the same Al D’Amato who fleeced the Islanders in 1979 with that crippling lease on behalf of SMG. Al D’amato will more than likely screw the Islanders if given the chance.
so even if this does get approved. we still have to wait till 2015 to break ground?
if by reduction they mean removing the condos and some retail space. that isnt too bad.
Arena, sport complex and restaurants would work for me.
The politics here are a joke and stupid. They don’t realize how bad the long island economy is with people out of work and unemployment. The original plan was a no brainer. The traffic and environment issue is BS.
Hopefully a new arena is part of the deal not a refurbished one…and the arena needs to be taken care of 1st…nothing else
Can someone let me know if this concept of negotiations with Kate Murry after she comes out with her downsized proposal, going to happen or is it just assumed that it will ??
Anyone who has Newsday subscription should check out the article that just came out on LH project. This project is dead in the water. Not even close to acceptable and was officially rejected by Wang and Rechler.