The New York Islanders now have all the permissions and approvals they need to start construction on a new home.
Newsday reports that “[t]he Franchise Oversight Board, a state agency that oversees the New York Racing Association and all activity at Belmont, issued a series of approvals on the project at a meeting in Albany on Tuesday afternoon.”
The horse racing oversight body needed to weigh in on the decision because the future home of the 19,000-seat arena (currently being called Belmont Park Arena) is at Belmont Park–the home of the third jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown.
The magazine writes that the next stage in the development is that “the developer New York Arena Partners must sign a lease with [Empire State Development] and receive all the necessary work permits from the state before officially beginning construction on the site. An ESD spokesman said last week that the developers already have received the necessary approval to begin preparation work at Belmont, such as setting up fencing around the perimeter of the site, temporary trailers on the lots and locating utility lines.”
