Belmont Development

Posted Wednesday, August 10, 2016 10:27 am

Potential Belmont Park developer the Engel Burman Group has sponsored a radio advertisement, produced by a civic group in Elmont, that criticizes the plan for the vacant south lot of the racetrack put forth by the New York Cosmos soccer team.

The Elmont Community Coalition Council produced the ad, which ran sporadically on 1010 WINS and the CBS radio affiliate in Albany starting in late 2013. The council was founded as a communitywide organization with representatives from each of the handful of civic groups in Elmont, but it has not had a formal meeting since 2014.

“We don’t need a mega-soccer stadium with 25,000 seats that will never be filled,” said former Elmont Board of Education President Aubrey Phillips, who narrated the commercial. “We need things that will add value to our community.”

The Cosmos plan, which includes a 175-room hotel along with retail and restaurant space, is one of three possible developments for the site. The Syosset-based Blumenfeld Development Group presented its plan on May 18. It featured a Costco Business Center as well as recreation space and retail and restaurant spots. Engel Burman, based in Garden City, features similar retail and restaurant space along with a community center and field. Steven Krieger, a partner in the development company, presented Engel Burman’s plan to residents on June 15.

According to Phillips, the ads were created because of the lack of community input on the various projects. Additionally, the members of the Community Coalition Council, which include Phillips, felt that Elmont’s three state senators, along with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, were not representing the community’s needs.

“The Community Coalition Council is committed to a development that better reflects the wishes of the community, and not something that has a proven track record of failure,” Phillips, referring to the Cosmos plan, told the Herald. “Over the last 30 years, the evidence of whether they fail or succeed is clear. They don’t enhance the community.”

The Community Coalition Council contacted Engel Burman in 2013 about working on the advertisements, Phillips said. The members of the council crafted a message focusing on the type of development the majority of residents preferred.

“For the last several years, Engel Burman has been openly engaged in working with the Elmont Community Council regarding our proposal to create a multi-use development on the grounds of Belmont that would meet the specific needs of this diverse community,” said Steven Krieger, a partner at Engel Burman. “One of their concerns was that they had neither the resources nor the experience in ensuring their concerns with the mega-stadium would be heard by the governor and the [Empire State Development Corporation].”

According to Krieger, the resources at the disposal of the Cosmos dwarf that of local civic groups, which allows the soccer team to lobby state officials more aggressively. It was for this reason that Engel Burman became involved with the Elmont CCC, he said.

“If this development contest is ultimately judged on whether big money can overwhelm a community, then the Cosmos plan may well win,” he said. “If this battle is about what is appropriate for a community seeking economic equality and a strengthened quality of life, then our proposal’s merits are self-evident.”

Cosmos Chief Operating Officer Erik Stover declined to comment.

In addition to the radio commercial, the ECCC also produced a television spot criticizing the Cosmos’ attendance numbers. The commercial opens with shots of a Cosmos home game at James M. Shuart Stadium at Hofstra University. A voice-over actor states that the Cosmos will not be able to fill a 25,000-seat stadium.

“The numbers aren’t here — the economics make no sense,” the narrator says as shots of a less-than-half-full stadium are intercut with shots of an underused concession stand. “This would be a losing venture for years to come, preventing true economic growth.”

According to the spot, the ECCC funded the project. Krieger did not respond to questions about Engel Burman’s involvement with the television commercial, but did discuss why the development company became involved with the civic group.

"[The ECCC] certainly didn’t have the lobbyists, publicists and influential media allies that the Cosmos have gathered to try and influence the decision-making process, so they asked for our assistance in ensuring their story would be told,” Krieger said. “We did so willingly, openly and ethically.”

Not all observers see it that way, however. “It’s not good,” Patrick Nicolosi, president of the East End Civic Association, who has been a staunch supporter of the Cosmos plan in recent months, said of Engel Burman’s involvement, “because it just shows you how people are being bought in this community who push one project over the other.”

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