Cordish part of team vying to redevelop Long Island's Nassau Coliseum
Cordish Cos., the owner of Maryland Live casino, is partnering with the Madison Square Garden Co. on a $250 million proposal to redevelop the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on New York’s Long Island.
Cordish, the Baltimore-based owner of Maryland Live casino, and Madison Square Garden Co. (NASDAQ: MSG), was one of four development teams to submit a proposal to Nassau County to redevelop the current home of the New York Islanders hockey team, Newsday reported late last week.
MSG and Cordish have proposed renovating the 41-year-old arena and adding a 150,000-square-foot entertainment, restaurant and retail complex called Long Island Live, Mikyl Cordova, a spokeswoman for MSG, confirmed Monday. The arena’s seating capacity would be reduced to 14,500, down from more than 18,000 seats currently. The seating could be scaled down to 1,700 for smaller events.
MSG and Cordish's proposal would create 1,200 construction jobs and more than 2,500 permanent, part-time and seasonal jobs, according to a fact sheet provided by MSG. It would result in $300 million in sales and entertainment taxes and spur $11 billion in economic impact over 30 years, MSG said.
SCI Architects, the architecture firm for Madison Square Garden's recent $1 billion renovation, would be the architects for the Nassau Coliseum project. It has, or is working on arena projects at Portland, Ore.'s Rose Garden and the Saddledome in Calgary, among others.
The three other proposals submitted by developers include one from Forest City Ratner, the developer of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Forest City proposes to renovate the existing Coliseum and build a 2,000-seat indoor music venue and an outdoor amphitheater seating 2,500, Newsday reported.
Nassau County sought bids to develop the Coliseum in the wake of plans by the Islanders, the building’s main tenant, to move to Barclays Center in 2015.
Katie Grilli-Robles, a spokeswoman for Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, said the county could not comment on the request for proposal process. Officials at Cordish Cos. could not immediately be reached for comment.
Long Island Live, part of the Cordish-MSG bid, would include an sports-themed “MSG Zone” with restaurants, bars and memorabilia from Madison Square Garden. The proposal as presented to Nassau County officials Thursday sounds similar to a sports-themed entertainment venue Cordish Cos. has already done in Philadelphia.
In Philadelphia, the Spectrum, the former home of the Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers was razed to create an entertainment complex called Xfinity Live. Xfinity Live, which opened in March 2012, is part of a complex of sports complex in South Philadelphia that includes Citizens Bank Ballpark, home of the Philadelphia Phillies; Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Wells Fargo Center, home of the Flyers and Sixers.
Cordish Cos. is working with the San Francisco Giants to develop a retail, residential and office project called Mission Rock next to the Giants’ stadium.
The company is also vying for licenses to build a casino in Philadelphia and Massachusetts.