BSE Global and RXR Realty have been hard at work for some time now, creating their vision of a “new suburbia”around the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The land waiting to transform presently makes up around 70 acres of parking lots, and the dream is a mixed-mixed use, walkable downtown area. 

RXR Realty is behind a number of major developments in the New York City metro area. The firm manages a wide array of commercial properties and investments, as well as numerous multi-family residential developments. BSE Global specializes in innovative entertainment venues, overseeing properties like Barclays Center, NYCB Live, and LIU Brooklyn Paramount Theatre. Combining their joint efforts, investors and locals alike hope to see the area around the Coliseum booming with economic activity among visitors and residents alike. 

What’s Been Keeping the Nassau Hub Project So Delayed?

There were previous attempts to develop the land, most notably the Lighthouse Project in 2004, just one effort by Nassau County in the ensuing years to revitalize the area, so the forward momentum in the current project is encouraging. 

The current plan helmed by BSE Global and RXR Realty first took root in September of 2018 when the initial plans were released to the public. The ball did not begin to roll, however, until December of that year, when the Nassau County Legislature passed the development plan agreement. The efforts to fund the project since have been the work of just over a year, all told, with the latest news showing the first major kickoff will be the construction of parking garages, recently funded from the state. 

The Nassau Hub: The Vision and What Remains

The finished site, presently dubbed the Hub Innovation District, will leave the heart of Nassau County with more than just the Coliseum that these efforts will grow around. It will combine housing, retail, and outdoor green space, placing new residents and businesses within mere steps of local sports. The 2020 master plan includes the following features: 

• Two parking garages with 6,000+ spaces total, as well as around 6,000 offsite parking spaces for Hub patrons. 
• Additional entertainment venues including an 600-seat multiplex, multiple restaurants, and a 57,000 square foot performing arts center.
• An 850-room hotel complex. 
• An anchor tenant in Northwell Health, who will construct a research and development center. 
• Multiple retail and office spaces. 
• Three residential spaces, totaling 500 housing units, each measuring around 1250 square feet, aimed at keeping millennials and working-class locals in the county.
• Outdoor green space for leisure and pedestrian travel.

Reports in the last month have suggested that one of the next major steps in the Nassau Hub development is to pass its town review. Developers are seeking permission to rezone, finishing an environmental assessment, and presenting multiple blueprints. BSE and RXR are hoping to break ground a year from now at the latest and as soon as the end of this 2020. There are plans even beyond completion to continue building to bring in more retail and office spaces.