One more vote from the Franchise Oversight Board stands between the New York Islanders and their new home in Belmont Park.
After unanimous approval by the Empire State Development Board, construction at Belmont Park has just one more hurdle to jump.
Unanimous approval from the ESD board for #isles arena and Belmont redevelopment to move forward. And with that, meeting adjourned.
— Randi Marshall (@randimarshall) August 8, 2019
While unanimously approved by the ESD board, the project didn’t move forward without its doubters.
One speaker claimed that while his district never opposed redevelopment of Belmont, responses in the Environmental Impact Study haven’t satisfactorily answered residential concerns.
Despite these factors, the overall response to the New York Islanders was positive as discussion was concluded by Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky, who gave an emotional thank you to the community and concluded with “We will be a good neighbor.”
Until Belmont Arena finally arrives, the Islanders will to continue to play at both the Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders started to play at the Coliseum last season on Dec. 1, this season will be more top-heavy as far as Coliseum games.
The New York Islanders’ future home will be a 19,000-seat hockey arena complete with 350,000 square feet of retail space, 10,000 square feet of community space, a 250-room hotel, restaurants and a movie theater.
Support for the arena has been touted by ownership, management and the players themselves throughout the entire process since its announcement.
There is currently no update on the final meeting that must take place with the Franchise Oversight Board. If they approve the project, construction can begin to take place.
The timetable for the Arena’s opening remains to be at the start of the 2020-21 season.
UPDATE: New York’s Franchise Oversight Board has set a meeting date for August 13, at 4 p.m. Groundbreaking is tentatively set to begin on August 15.
