Nassau’s Biotech Dreams

When the New York Islanders hockey team announced it would leave Nassau Coliseum on Long Island in 2015 for the newer confines of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center  it left local officials trying to figure out what to do with the 40-year-old arena and its surrounding 77 acres.

Proposals have come and gone, but the latest would develop the site into a 15 million-square-foot biotech campus, including commercial and retail space and housing.

Developers Don Monti and Bruce Ratner, who developed Barclays Center, were appointed in November by Nassau County to consult on the project, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Monti told the paper he envisions office space for established and startup companies in bioscience, tech, health care and sports medicine. Development costs are estimated at $2 billion to $3 billion.

The project is expected to break ground by midyear and include up to 3,500 apartments and 2 million square feet of commercial space, according to the WSJ.

The zoning allows for 5.4 million square feet of development including hotels, retail and restaurants.

As is typical in such large developments, the biggest hurdle is financial. Monti reportedly would seek private financing, as well as possible federal or state money.  He would also need to find a large biotech anchor. A spokesman for Monti told the WSJ he was already in preliminary talks with “a few” companies.