Gov. Andrew Cuomo ceremonially broke ground on the “transformative” and “long overdue” Belmont Park redevelopment project at a ceremony Monday.
The park will be transformed into a 19,000-seat arena to house the New York Islanders, 350,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, a hotel containing 250 rooms and parking on 43 acres of vacant state-owned property. Also being built with the project is the first new full-time LIRR station in 50 years.
During his speech, Cuomo, a self-described “old Queens boy,” said that as a child he looked at Belmont Park while traveling on the Cross Island Parkway and said, “Why doesn’t somebody do something with that site?”
“It sat widely unused for a long, long time. Well, today is a different day, my friends. This is going to be a transformative project that I think is going to energize all of Long Island,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo said that bringing the LIRR station to Elmont will be a “game-changer” with Elmont residents being able to take the train into the city and Long Island residents being able to take the train straight to Islanders games.
“It’s going to be state of the art and it is exactly what Long Islanders deserve. The Islanders were just more than a hockey team; they were a Long Island identity,” Cuomo said. “They said to Long Island ‘you are special and you have your team.’”
Cuomo said that the Islanders’ “transition back home” is in progress and that 21 games will be played at Nassau Coliseum in the coming hockey season.
Eric Gertler, the acting commissioner of the state agency overseeing the project, Empire State Development, said the project will create 10,000 construction jobs and once it is complete will result in 3,200 full-time jobs.
The groundbreaking ceremony also comes at a litigious time for the project. The development of the arena and train station is being challenged by two lawsuits.
The Village of Floral Park said Sept. 9 that it was seeking judicial review of the approval of the Belmont Park redevelopment project in state Supreme Court.
In a newsletter, the village said that the village “commenced an article 78 proceeding in the Supreme Court of the State of New York” into the project’s approval by Empire State Development.
An Article 78 proceeding is used to appeal the decision of a state or local agency to the New York courts, according to LawNY.
“The village was compelled to take this step because ESD failed to address the concerns of our residents and failed to mitigate the very real consequences to our village that will result from the massive size and scope of the project,” Longobardi said in the newsletter.
Members of the Belmont Park Community Coalition filed a joint lawsuit Sept. 21 challenging the review of the environmental impact of the project. According to court documents, the plaintiffs said the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County “have repeatedly misappropriated the Belmont Park for its private use by, among other things, attempting to take citizens property without the proper compensation and due process of the Law.”
“The State of New York plans to take up a major redevelopment project for our community. Unfortunately, the State has chosen to ignore the surrounding communities and our concerns about the current redevelopment proposal,” Lori Halop, a spokeswoman for The Belmont Park Community Coalition, said in a statement.
Floral Park Mayor Dominick Longobardi declined to comment on the ceremony Monday.
