22/08/2025
Community leaders are growing frustrated at the lack of progress by Empire State Development in fulfilling its plans to build a community center in Elmont, nearly six years after the signing of a 2019 agreement with New York Arena Partners that promised residents a “community space,” similar to the Herrick Community Center pictured above.
NYAP — the partnership of the New York Islanders; the Oak View Group, a professional sports and commercial real estate company; and Sterling Project Development that developed and built UBS Arena — received a six-month extension on the project last November from ESD, the state department tasked with overseeing the development, after facing a $5 million penalty for not completing the project by that month’s deadline.
Since the extension expired, Emily Mijatovic, Empire State Development’s downstate communications director, explained, the department has given NYAP month-to-month extensions to ensure continued progress on the project.
According to members of the Belmont Community Advisory Committee — whose board comprises residents of Elmont, Floral Park and Queens appointed by state senators representing districts impacted by the development — ESD has not met with them since last July, or provided a written update since December.
For more details, visit https://www.liherald.com/stories/elmont-community-center-delays-progress-updates,216803
