From the archives: Plan for stores, restaurants at Nassau Coliseum site

This story was originally published in Newsday on Dec. 6, 1996

Nassau County officials want to expand the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum into a sports and entertainment complex that may include a multiscreen movie theater, a virtual-reality video game arcade and sports- and entertainment-themed restaurants, bars and stores.

The proposal, which is still in the formative stages, parallels a handful of projects being planned around the country, including ones at the Meadowlands in New Jersey and the baseball stadium in Anaheim, Calif.

The aim is to convert some of the acres of asphalt now committed to parking into attractions that will earn money and draw people to the area before and after events.

In Nassau, the concept also is an attempt to drum up flagging private-sector interest in taking over the 24-year-old coliseum and replacing or extensively renovating it.

In January, County Executive Thomas Gulotta proposed selling the coliseum to a private developer who would agree to build a new arena on the site and convert the old coliseum into Long Island's first convention center. But private-sector interest in that proposal was virtually nonexistent, in part because convention centers are generally money-losers and Gulotta opposed contributing county tax money to the project.

"The responses weren't that great," said Morton Certilman, chairman of the Nassau Coliseum Privatization Commission, an advisory board to Gulotta. "Developers didn't step up to the plate with money."

By expanding the project to include restaurants, stores and other attractions, Certilman said, the county hopes to make the proposal commercially viable for developers and investors.

While a final decision has not been made, there is a growing consensus to move in this direction, according to key members of the privatization commission.

Gulotta, who would determine whether to try this approach, called it "an exciting project that deserves serious consideration."

But the potential for added traffic jams in the congested central Nassau region will be a major hurdle for any development on the coliseum property. "The only part I'm nervous about is the transportation end," Certilman said.

Gulotta said the project should go hand-in-hand with proposals to alleviate traffic in the area with a people-mover system that would link Hofstra and Adelphi universities, Nassau Community College, the Roosevelt Field and Roosevelt Raceway shopping centers, a nearby museum row and the coliseum.

Without such a system, Gulotta said, the project "will never succeed."

John Spano, the soon-to-be new owner of the Islanders hockey team, expressed support for the concept. "It would be great for the area if it's a destination point where you can do other things besides go to the arena," he said.

The Islanders have been lobbying the county for a new arena to replace the 16,297-seat coliseum, which is outdated by today's standards. The team wants more seating and luxury boxes, a wider corridor and more varied food concessions.

Spano said he would be meeting with Certilman on Thursday to discuss plans for the coliseum. Certilman hopes the county will be ready to issue a request for proposals from developers or the project sometime next spring. Separately, Spano has estimated that it will take three to four years to get a new arena built.

Exactly what elements would make up the proposed sports and entertainment complex remain to be determined. Any retail would be limited to sports- and entertainment-related businesses.

In Anaheim, city officials are reviewing proposals from developers for Sportstown, a planned complex on the city's 159-acre baseball stadium property that would include a hotel, restaurants and shops, an office tower, and an exhibition hall. They also want a football stadium on the same site, if the city can attract a professional franchise.

Certilman is basing his concept on the Entertainment Center in Irvine, Calif., which is not affiliated with a sports venue. It has a 21-screen movie theater, four restaurants, a Barnes & Noble book store and Sega City, an arcade with virtual-reality games.

"We're trying to make this whole massive thing that looks like a parking lot with a coliseum in the middle of it into a destination that people want to come to," Certilman said.