Bye-bye Brooklyn, hello Belmont for Isles

Local NHL squad’s group lands coveted arena bid at L.I. racetrack

December 20, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Islanders’ new home in Elmont, N.Y., will feature an 18,000-seat arena, a hotel with up to 200 rooms, 435,000 square feet of retail space and a 10,000 square-foot “innovation center” when it is completed. Diagram courtesy of NY Arena Partners, LLC.

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The New York Islanders, who relocated from the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in 2015, will be former tenants of the Downtown arena as soon as their new state-of-the-art facility is completed on the land adjacent to Belmont Racetrack in Elmont, N.Y.

Empire State Development announced Wednesday morning that the Islanders’ group, dubbed New York Arena Partners, which also includes Sterling Project Development and the Oak View Group, was the winner in what had dwindled down to a two-team race to land the coveted acreage surrounding the legendary horse-racing venue.

“The Islanders are back where they belong,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a news conference at Belmont, which opened in 1905 and hasn’t been redeveloped in over half a century.

“The Barclays Center is nice, but the Barclays Center is in Brooklyn,” he added. “The Islanders were from Long Island and when they left, Long Island lost something. It was sad. They were so much a part of the identity and the culture of Long Island. They left a hole in the heart of Long Island.”

That hole will now likely be filled within the next three years.

Islanders co-owners Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky were adamant throughout the bidding process that re-relocating the team from the corners of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues to a locale 15 to 20 minutes away from its former longtime home in Nassau County was a “singular focus” of the organization.

“I can’t be more excited that the Isles will have a new 11003 zip code in Elmont, N.Y.,” gushed Ledecky, a former Queens and Long Island resident.

“I love this area, I love Queens,” he added. “For our fans: This day is for you. Today is a huge day for this franchise and you deserve it more than anyone else. Congratulations to you, the great fans of the New York Islanders.”

The Isles beat out a group from NYCFC, the MLS soccer club that currently plays at Yankee Stadium and is partially owned by the Major League franchise.

Another bid, spearheaded by Blumenthal Development, pulled out of the race earlier this month, further clearing the path for Ledecky and Malkin to land their dream site.

“The Island is coming back and that’s why the Islanders are coming back and we’re investing $1 billion,” Ledecky gushed.

Now it’s just a matter of how long it will take for the new facility, which is expected to feature an 18,000-seat arena, a hotel with up to 200 rooms, 435,000 square feet of retail space and a 10,000-square-foot “innovation center,” to be built and fully operational.

In the meantime, the Isles will spend the next week or so diligently renegotiating their original 25-year lease agreement with Barclays Center and Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

The Isles can opt out of that lease as early as Jan. 1, but still need a place to play their home games before they can move into their new digs.

Ultimately, Barclays and the Islanders have been a poor match from the start.

Players openly complained about poor ice conditions, fans have constantly derided the NBA arena’s poor sight lines and obstructed-view seats for hockey, and the Isles currently rank dead last in the NHL in home attendance, averaging 11,567 fans through their first 15 games in Brooklyn this season.

Prokhorov has made it clear through various channels that he would like his arena freed up for more concerts, boxing cards and other entertainment events in place of the Isles’ annual 41-game home schedule, not including playoffs.

The Russian billionaire is also tired of paying out an average of $50 million-plus annually to the Isles as per terms of the original deal.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was at the event and continued to echo his long-standing belief that the Nassau Coliseum is “not a viable option” as an interim home for the Islanders, though the governor did playfully push him to reconsider during his time on the dais.

“This arena represents an opportunity for tremendous economic growth and community development,” said Bettman, who grew up in Queens and on Long Island during the franchise’s halcyon days in the early 1980s.

“It’s the first time in Islander history that they will be in a world-class facility.”

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was quick to tweet out his feelings on the Isles’ move, which will instantly cut the amount of Brooklyn’s major pro sports franchises in half.

“There’s only one Brooklyn team for Barclays Center and that’s the Brooklyn Nets,” he said in a nod to our borough’s first big league team since the Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957.

Fans outside of Barclays prior to and after Tuesday night’s 6-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings were decidedly in favor of the Isles leaving Brooklyn.

“I’m happy that they’re coming home,” said longtime fan and Long Island resident Charles Miller, who has attended at least 20 games per season here since the original relocation.

“It’s still hard to believe that after all these years they’re finally getting a new arena of their own.”

Isles captain John Tavares, who is headed for free agency this summer and was likely waiting to see if the only franchise he has ever known would have a new home before inking what is expected to be a $10- million-plus deal, weighed in on the arena deal the evening before it was official.

“It’s great news for the franchise, for us as players and our families, and certainly — and mostly — our fans and our fan base,” Tavares said before picking up a pair of assists in Tuesday’s loss.

“It’s really much deserved. It’s where the team has come from and really the identity is. If it’s made official [Wednesday], it’d obviously be great news and an exciting opportunity ahead.”

The Isles, who will host Anaheim here on Thursday night, will certainly be in Brooklyn for the remainder of this season and likely the 2018-19 campaign while their new home is being constructed.

That won’t be an odd situation for a franchise that felt as if it had one skate out of the door since it arrived here in summer 2015.