Nassau agrees to $3.55 million settlement with Islanders, SMG for back payment
A general view of Nassau Coliseum before a game between the New York Islanders and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014, in Uniondale. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The New York Islanders and SMG, their lease partner at the Nassau Coliseum, have reached an agreement to pay the county $3.55 million in unpaid rent, utilities, parking, concessions and revenue payments for the Uniondale arena, county officials said Friday.
The deal, which came on the final day of SMG's 30-year Coliseum lease with Nassau, settles debt owed to the county dating to 2011. The final payment is contingent on Nassau verifying $555,000 in documented repairs SMG and the Islanders made in recent months, officials said.
Nassau is still owed payment from April through July for utilities and parking; concessions for all of 2015; and advertising revenue from July 2014 to June 2015, said Josh Meyer, an attorney with Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West LLC, who was retained by Nassau to settle the claims. Those outstanding bills are being calculated, he said.
"We have been engaged in significant ongoing discussions and worked cooperatively to reach a successful conclusion," Meyer said.
The county owns the arena and leases it to SMG, a Pennsylvania-based venue management company, which holds a sublease with the Islanders. SMG and the Islanders did not respond to requests for comment.
As recently as December, the Islanders and SMG owed the county $4.9 million, documents show. They made a payment of $1.25 million on Dec. 14 and $1.25 million on March 15. SMG and the team then made a $750,000 payment on June 25 and $500,000 on Thursday.
The Islanders and SMG on Thursday also submitted documentation to the county showing they had made more than $555,000 in arena repairs in recent months, county spokesman Brian Nevin said.
Once Nassau verifies those expenses, that amount will be deducted from the debt owed to the county -- bringing the total to $3.55 million, he said.
County Comptroller George Maragos said Nassau has been "lax" in collecting the debt and should have more aggressively pursued full payment.
"It should have never come to this where we are collecting $3.55 million on the last day of the lease," Maragos said.
Nassau has wrangled with the Islanders and SMG over the debt since February 2012, with county officials sending frequent letters detailing the bills. SMG and the Islanders responded by deducting repairs and ongoing building improvements from the total debt owed.
In recent years, administration officials said they were satisfied with allowing the SMG and the Islanders to delay full payment so they had money available to make repairs to the 43-year-old arena.
According to the lease, SMG and the Islanders -- who will begin playing home games at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn next season -- are responsible to pay for repairs to the Coliseum, and the county would then reimburse them.
Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner, who will take over management of the Coliseum Saturday, is required to pay for all repairs and arena upkeep, according to the terms of his 34-year lease with the county. Ratner will make his first lease payment of $50,000 to the county on Monday, Nevin said.
Nassau's agreement with SMG and the Islanders does not settle $176,000 in disputed ticket taxes that Maragos claims the county is still owed. The cost comes from SMG failing to verify the tax-exempt status, or maintain tax-exempt certificates, of organizations claiming tax exemptions.
SMG officials have said Maragos' approach was "impracticable." The county will be seeking the money, Nevins said.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
What local police departments do to combat the problem Suffolk created a street takeover task force in 2024 that has broken up more than 100 incidents in the county.
What local police departments do to combat the problem Suffolk created a street takeover task force in 2024 that has broken up more than 100 incidents in the county.
