Newsday Update on Islanders Lease

New York Islander Fan Central | 1/31/2009 09:46:00 PM |
Newsday: Eden Laiken reports the Islanders lease prohibits them from leaving the Nassau Coliseum before 2015 with Nassau County Attorney Lorna Goodman quoted as saying if the an Islander owner tried to move he could be held in contempt and face the possibility of jail time, high fines and the payment of any damages incurred by the county based on the 1985 lease which was upheld by a Nassau State Supreme Court justice in 1998 when Howard Milstein's tried to move the team because of the Coliseum's condition.

Some outside experts were brought in to give opinion. Nothing from Charles Wang or anyone close to the situation.


NYI Fan Central Comments:

Behind the scenes for weeks I have been looking for the articles that say if the Lighthouse project is voted down the Islanders owners have the right to vacate the current lease immediately. I have read the Memorandum of Understanding documents and have been compiling everything I could find on this because I have wanted to present this here for everyone.

A lot of pdf files, but I'm very sure and have written here on several occasions Charles Wang as part of the MOU can opt out of the lease if the Lighthouse is not approved before 2015.

Even after the MOU there were articles about Suffolk County and a possible move.

That does not mean the Smg lease is voided or the cable contract.

I'm not sure if Eden Laiken is correct on this one or if Tom Suozzi did not include it in the language of the MOU.

We need more information, I have been running into the offers when the bids were taken from several potential outside developers.

For now this is the pdf file with the MOU here.

Here is the proposed lease agreement from 2005 here.

Finally another article I researched from 2007 on project delays here.

I will keep looking.

Updated:
This is what I remember, I guess it depends on how you interpret the wording, breaking the lease does not mean the lease expires.

Doug Miller in the Herald Community Newspapers reported on 2/8/07 here when the matter was before the finance committee Jan. 22, concerns were raised that if the Legislature votes down the plan ultimately worked out between Wang and the Town of Hempstead, the deal allows the Islanders to break their lease at the coliseum, which is due to expire in 2015.






AddThis Feed Button