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The Conscience of Thoroughbred Racing
Monday, New York State’s Empire State Development Corporation certified the Final Environmental Statement for the New York Islanders Arena at Belmont Park. ESD enacted a 15-day comment period on the FEIS.
Approvals from the ESD, Franchise Oversight Board and the Public Authorities Control Board will follow and New York Arena Partners will break ground this summer. NYAP agreed to pay $97 million of the $105 million cost for the new Long Island Rail Road station.
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6 Responses
I thought the comment period was 15 days. The same comments from the same people, no one is changing their minds at this point.
Tag-
You are correct and I will update the story.
Wasn’t ground supposed to be broken by now? Isn’t that why racing shifted to Saratoga earlier?
What are the odds ground still will not have been broken when the horses get back from upstate?
I’ll reiterate three predictions I have been making all along, one of which has already come to pass: The project will not start on time; the project will not end on time and cost over-runs will be substantial.
I’m no fortune teller. This is true of virtually every major project in an urban area, doubly so in a union-dominated city like New York.
Just to clarify, I’m not against building the Islanders a new arena at Belmont. I think it’s great. They will again truly be the Islanders, my favorite team until I became a South Florida resident. They still have a soft spot in my heart, inasmuch as the Florida Panthers suck.
But let’s be realistic about the construction schedule and when the Islanders will be able to come back to the area they were created to serve and where they enjoyed some of the greatest success in NHL history.
The upside to the tardiness: Saratoga will be opening earlier at least two more years and by then the earlier start will be ingrained. It will never be pushed back.
TJ-
The Environmental Statement went back for a supplemental, which added 2 months to the process. Ground should be broken before racing returns from the Spa. Costs overruns are already kicking in with NYAP now picking up $97 million of the $105 million for the new LIRR station.
NYRA is slowly moving to a July 4th opening at the Spa. There’s no going back, Isles or not.
The Panthers picked up first-rate goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
Do you think the “Belmont Park” sign will be on the arena when it finally opens?
I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up the “Cuomo Arena” in honor of the anti-racing governor and his family.
Mufasa-
I think they will sell the naming rights. I hope it’s going to be ‘Blankity Blank Arena @ Belmont Park ‘ or May drop @ Belmont Park altogether.