Long Islanders are nothing less than thrilled that final approval was granted this month for a permanent home for the New York Islanders in Belmont Park, along with a hotel and retail village. The only step left for this $1.3 billion undertaking: shovels hitting the ground.
Such large-scale development is not always universally welcomed here because of concern that it will worsen congestion on our roadways. But the Belmont project showed the right way respond to that concern by including the right investments in transit infrastructure.
In early July, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the project would be buoyed by a new full-time Long Island Rail Road station in Elmont—reducing congestion, promoting green public transit options and providing residents with a desperately-needed transportation option.
Critically, this station will provide direct access to the arena from points east, unlike the existing “spur” station, which required many Long Islanders to ride past Belmont to Jamaica and then backtrack.
The state expects one-third of arena attendees to use the LIRR, taking thousands of cars off our roads and greatly reducing congestion. Just as important, the station will be a true public-private partnership: The arena developers will provide $30 million upfront and pay the state another $67 million over time, for a total private contribution of $97 million of the $105 million total cost.
Before declaring my support for the project, I made sure it would benefit all our residents—especially surrounding communities. It does, and a new train station at almost no cost to the state is only one of the benefits this project will bring.
Building it will create 10,000 construction jobs, helping to anchor Nassau County’s middle class, and generate $2.7 billion in economic activity. Once complete, it will sustain 3,200 permanent, full-time jobs and produce an annual economic impact of $858 million locally.
The project will also generate taxes on ticket sales, hotel rooms, retail purchases, staff salaries and more. Each year, Nassau County is expected to receive more than $25 million in new tax revenue thanks to the project.
The Belmont development will achieve three critical goals for Long Island: boost our economy, expand our public transit network and bring the Islanders home to Long Island. Three goals—a hat trick for Nassau County.
Laura Curran is Nassau County executive.