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| ABLI endorses County Executive Mangano’s RFP that would reinvent Mitchel Field, creating jobs, taxes and investment |
| February 7, 2012 |
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The Association for a Better Long Island (ABLI) today endorsed the decision by Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano to dramatically reinvent the future of Mitchel Field by challenging the real estate industry to respond to an RFP that would redevelop the property.
Immediate past president of the ABLI Mitchell Rechler of Rechler Equities, stated, “Innovative development funded through private investment dollars has the means to create a powerful new economic engine for Nassau County. We believe the County Executive’s actions can harness the power of the marketplace to create the types of proposals that will benefit the county’s economy and the county taxpayer while bringing significant investment, new tax revenue and job creation.”
Fellow ABLI board member and past president Alan Eidler of Spiegel Associates, said, “It is no secret that we respectfully disagreed with a plan that would have used county bonds to rebuild the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. We believe it is the responsibility of the private sector to put its investment dollars on the line in the expectation that a Mitchel Field re-development project will bring an appropriate measure of return for its companies and the community. This RFP begins to set the stage to do exactly that.”
Rechler noted, “The County Executive should be commended and supported for his sustained commitment to reinventing Mitchel Field. He sees it as we do, an extraordinary opportunity to recharge Nassau County’s economy.”
The absolute need for county and town to design the process and zoning parameters
Other ABLI leaders endorsing the county’s plan to introduce an RFP to the real estate industry include the group’s President Jan Burman of Engel Burman, Edward Blumenfeld of Blumenfeld Development Group, Mark Hamer of Harvest Real Estate and Vince Polimeni of Polimeni International.
Mr. Burman said, “This will be one of the most important projects in a generation and the ability to ensure an integrated approach on the governmental level will be nothing less than crucial. We believe the Town and County must sit down together and create the specific zoning parameters that the development community can respond to. An affirmative response to the RFP will be as a result of a clearly defined process presented in a coordinated manner by two different levels of government. That approach may be unprecedented but so too is the need to finally break ground at Mitchel Field.”
Mr. Rechler agreed. “History has shown that bidding on this site with ambiguous development parameters has led to years of time and money wasted by a number of administrations. In order for the redevelopment of the Mitchel Field property to occur, the county must sit down with a professional real estate consultant and the Town of Hempstead and negotiate their vision for the site. From that effort an RFP can be produced that will result in a developer paying the maximum price for a viable project and also allow for this project to move forward, once and for all.”
What will attract private investment on public land?
Mr. Polimeni observed, “This RFP requires a clean piece of paper. Recognizing that the Town has already specified their density requirements, does that instruction actually work within the realities of the marketplace and is the Town willing to amend that regulation? These are just some of the questions any developer will be compelled to ask.”
Equally important is the question of the Coliseum and its role before and after the hockey season. Mr. Hamer stated, “The Islanders, the Coliseum and the future of both are embedded within this RFP. The development team needs to look at this as a business model and analyze what it means to the County’s economy and this project’s viability regardless of whether the team and the arena stay or go.”
Ed Blumenfeld said, “There is a unique window of opportunity for the Mitchel Field site. The Mangano Administration is committed to making it a cornerstone of economic growth in the county and the development community wants to make that mission succeed. We welcome his steadfast efforts and his willingness to find the formula that allows the taxpayer, the county and the private development community to be winners.”
The ABLI represents some $20 billion worth of Long Island commercial, industrial, retail and residential housing. |
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