Prokhorov to Shutter Long Island?s Nassau Coliseum

[Phil]

The Nassau Coliseum, the Long Island arena that hosted professional hockey games and rock concerts, is turning off the lights.

 

Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov?s Onexim Sports and Entertainment, which operates the arena under a lease from Nassau County, is planning to shutter the venue indefinitely while it seeks investors to take over operations and pick up the remaining debt on the building, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

Onexim has told potential investors that it would turn over the lease in return for assuming roughly $100 million in loans on the property, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. The firm, which is laying off arena employees, could also surrender the lease to its lenders, the person said.

 

The arena has been dark since the pandemic hit New York and shut down much of the U.S. economy. Onexim makes its money from live events, but the lease on the arena includes development rights that could be valuable to property investors, the person said.

 

A representative for Onexim declined to comment.

 

In February, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the Coliseum would host all of the Islanders home games during the 2020-2021 season. But the Covid-19 pandemic upset those plans, casting doubt on when sports leagues would resume and whether they would allow fans to attend games.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-16/billionaire-prokhorov-to-shutter-long-island-s-nassau-coliseum?utm_source=twitter&utm_content=pursuits&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-pursuits&utm_medium=social

[4EverRangerFrank]

Your tax dollars at work.

[Sod16]

Does anyone have a progress report on the new arena? Has work been seriously curtailed? Is it still going to be ready for 2021-22? Actually, they have seemed to have a bigger home advantage at Barclays than the Coliseum. Used to the bad ice I guess.

 

I'm all in on the Spano Hex.