Soccer or hockey stadium may be headed to Belmont

From CBS 2:

What does the future hold for the vacant lots at Belmont Park?

More than 200 of its neighbors went to Elmont High School on Sunday to find out what two New York sports teams have in mind. As CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez reported, most locals weren’t very happy about what they heard.

“Like it or not, the residents of this area are getting a stadium, and the congestion is going to be mind boggling,” one man said.

“It’s going to be nightmare,” another person added.

The New York City Football Club, partly owned by the New York Yankees, hopes to transform part of the property north of Hempstead Turnpike into a 26,000 seat open-air stadium for its professional soccer team.

Meanwhile, the New York Islanders want to turn that property into a world class sports and entertainment facility, including an 18,000 seat arena for the professional hockey team.

Council candidate calls for investigation of Katz

From the Queens Chronicle:

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz in her State of the Borough address Friday proposed the placement of a soccer and hockey arena at Willets Point, as well as a school, economic recreation center and a parking facility at the 62-acre site.

Katz, in her address, said, “… as we await the outcome of the lawsuit, let’s ponder additional options.”

“We should be unafraid we should think bigger, bolder and more comprehensively,” she later said. “We need to review positioning ourselves for success by thinking creatively about further options that address our changing borough’s needs — a new school, an eco-recreation center, more parking to accommodate simultaneous big events that we have there now, because all those big events that we have now are wreaking havoc on the soccer fields and grass in Flushing Meadows for parking.

“And to help pay for it, let's consider a soccer stadium, let's consider a hockey stadium” she said. “Just imagine if we, the World’s Borough, hosted the World Cup or the Stanley Cup.”

One opponent of the mall project quickly criticized the borough president’s proposal.

"Borough President Katz's push for yet another stadium in Willets Point on property that was essentially stolen from small businesses for the supposed use of creating a new affordable residential community — a plan that she herself negotiated in 2008 as the Land Use Chair on the City Council! — would be almost comical if it weren't so disturbing,” said Paul Graziano, an urban planning consultant, plaintiff in the lawsuit and City Council hopeful.

“Law enforcement officials should look very carefully at possible collusion between the Borough President's office and the developers in question, as this seems to be yet another attempt at grabbing our city's public property in order to further enrich a few very already wealthy individuals at our expense," Graziano, who is running as a primary opponent against Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) in September, continued.

Yet another stadium planned for Queens

From Bloomberg:

The New York Islanders are in talks with the owners of baseball’s New York Mets about building a hockey arena adjacent to Citi Field in Queens, people with knowledge of the discussions said.

Willets Point is emerging as a persuasive alternative to the team’s current home at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center if the Islanders’s owners and arena officials can’t agree on a series of hockey-specific improvements, said the people, who asked for anonymity because the negotiations are private.

The team’s first season at Barclays Center, which is owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, was marred by poor reviews from fans, who complained about obstructed view seats, and from players, who who said the quality of the ice was sub-par. The team’s owners also realized they couldn’t make as much money as their league counterparts, most of which play in bigger arenas.

The Islanders, who are owned by Value Retail Plc founder Scott Malkin and Jonathan Ledecky, and Sterling Equities, which owns the Mets, have been discussing a possible move to Queens for months, said the people.

What about those ramps? Affordable housing? Hmmm...

Islanders moving to Brooklyn

From the NY Times:

The New York Islanders, who have played on Long Island since they began play in 1972, will move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, officials with knowledge of the deal said on Wednesday.

The deal was to be officially announced Wednesday afternoon at a news conference at the new arena in Brooklyn with Charles E. Wang, the owner of the Islanders, and Bruce Ratner, the owner of the Barclays Center.

Under the 25-year agreement, which has to be officially approved by the National Hockey League, the Islanders would move to the Barclays for the 2015-16 season.

The Barclays is already home to the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, which moved from New Jersey, and adding a hockey team would represent a major coup for Mr. Ratner. But unlike the Nets, the Islanders would keep New York in their name.

One less thing to threaten Flushing Meadows.

Finance chair likes Forest Hills Stadium plan

From the Daily News:

A nonprofit group that hopes to bring back tennis to a Queens stadium that long hosted the U.S. Open may get taxpayer cash for its ambitious plan, the Daily News has learned.

The chairman of the City Council’s Finance ommittee has proposed a public-private partnership to back what he calls a “beautiful” plan to rejuvenate West Side Stadium in Forest Hills.

Brooklyn Councilman Domenic Recchia hailed the nonprofit Stadium Arts Alliance for its vision to host major tennis matches, concerts, art exhibits and ice hockey in the aging landmark.

“Now is the time we have to address this,” Recchia said of re-using the crumbling venue where the U.S. Open was played from 1923 to 1977.

The alliance’s chairman, John Banks, said he “absolutely” supports the partnership.

“Anything that would help make this more of a reality is something we would be interested in discussing,” he said.

The club that owns the stadium is reviewing bids from developers who are mostly believed to have proposed gutting the structure for condos.

The club, which is expected to pick a winner early next year, can complete a sale or lease only with a two-thirds majority of its members.

Recchia called the alliance’s proposal “a victory for the entire community.” He said it’s too early to break down how much city money the alliance might snag.