Long Island's Nassau County is planning to construct a new practice facility and corporate offices for the New York Islanders as part of a public-private partnership to keep some presence for the National Hockey League team after it starts playing in Brooklyn next season.
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano announced March 11 that plans will soon be finalized for a P3 that would include a "state-of-the art" corporate office and practice facility for the Islanders at county-owned Cantiague Park in Hicksville.
The NHL franchise, which formed in 1972, will leave its longtime home at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum after this season for the Barclays Center 23 miles away in Brooklyn. The Islanders' current practice facility is in Syosset, with its corporate headquarters inside the Nassau Coliseum, which will be renovated and downsized by developer Bruce Ratner starting this summer.
County voters rejected a $400 million bond proposal for a new Islanders arena in 2011.
The Nassau County legislature approved a $229 million proposal by developer Forest City Ratner in 2013 to revamp the Nassau Coliseum into a smaller 13,000 seat-arena and build an adjacent amphitheater, movie theater, bowling alley and restaurants. Ratner has said the Islanders will play six regular and preseason games at the redeveloped Coliseum, which would also host minor league hockey, college basketball, and concerts.
"While I was disappointed when taxpayers voted no to building an arena to keep our only professional sports team, we have an opportunity to keep their roots in Nassau," said Mangano in his speech. "This facility will cement the Islanders in Nassau and provide hope that we will witness their full-time return when they see the magnificent new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum."
Mangano touted in his remarks the recent success of other P3s in Nassau County including Twin Rinks Ice Center at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, N.Y., where he delivered the address. Other successful P3s in Nassau County involving sports facilities Mangano highlighted were a new Molloy College baseball field and a practice field for the North American Soccer League's New York Cosmos at Mitchell Athletic Complex in Uniondale.
Financial details on the proposed Islanders practice facility were not yet released. The plan would need to be approved by the Republican-controlled Nassau County legislature.
Nassau County is rated A2 by Moody's Investors Service.
