News

bztop11-sg

The mortgage fraud case against former <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> Legis.&nbsp; George Guldi ended quietly Wednesday when he was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison for his role in one of the largest mortgage fraud rings ever on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>. 
 <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County Court Judge James F.X. Doyle ordered the sentence to run concurrently with the 4 to 12 years he's already serving for an insurance fraud conviction. That means Guldi, a Democrat, will not serve more time for the mortgage fraud scam, which <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> District Attorney <a href="/topics/Thomas_Spota">Thomas Spota</a> estimated bilked banks out of $80 million. 
 "We're disappointed," said Assistant District Attorney Thalia Stavrides, who sought a sentence of 81/3 to 25 years in prison and asked that it run consecutive to the insurance fraud sentence. &nbsp;"We felt he deserved far more. " 
 Doyle said the mortgage fraud did serious damage to the banks. "There's no question that an enormous amount of economic dislocation was created by this defendant," Doyle said. The judge declined to impose restitution on Guldi, who could have been held responsible for repaying more than $30 million. 
 &nbsp; He said the civil courts handling the numerous lawsuits against Guldi were better able to determine what he should pay -- and he said he hoped Guldi and his co-defendants do pay some day. "The proper forum is not here," Doyle said. 
 Guldi, who is from <a href="/topics/Westhampton_Beach%2C_NY">Westhampton Beach</a>, addressed some procedural issues in court, but did not speak about the crimes he committed. 
 When he pleaded guilty, he admitted committing dozens of frauds by diverting money to himself and his co-defendants by using straw buyers to obtain fraudulent mortgages on more than 60 properties across <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County. Guldi, an attorney, was disbarred after his insurance fraud conviction this spring. 
 One of his co-defendants, former attorney Brandon Lisi, also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced later. Two others, dominatrix Carrie Coakley, 40, and her husband, Donald MacPherson, 67, are both scheduled to be in court Thursday. Many of the straw buyers were recruited at The Dungeon in Manhattan, where Coakley was in charge.

liguld01

Guldi gets 1 to 3 years in  mortgage fraud

George Guldi  12.26.11  cropped

Home sales in the Hamptons and the rest of Long Island jumped in the third quarter compared with a year ago, rebounding from a weak market, two new reports show. 
 The number of closings rose 12.4 percent for the Hamptons and 18.4 percent for the rest of the Island, according to third-quarter data from Prudential <a href="/topics/Douglas_Elliman">Douglas Elliman</a> Real Estate, a major metropolitan area broker. Overall Long Island home sales data for the period have been reported by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, but the new report released shows activity in the wealthy Hamptons area. 
 In the third quarter last year, the Long Island market was in a slump as buyers took a breather after the federal home buyers tax credit expired, said appraiser Jonathan <a href="/topics/Jonathan_Miller">Miller</a> of Manhattan-based Miller Samuel Inc., who compiled the data for the reports. This made the 2011 third-quarter activity look good, he said. 
 The median closing price of homes sold in the Hamptons rose 22 percent, to $850,000, from the year-earlier period, Miller said. That increase was skewed by a jump in the sales of luxury properties priced $5 million and up, he said. There were 54 closings in the luxury end, up 15 percent from the same period last year, the report said, enough to boost the median price; the median measures the midpoint in a series of numbers. 
 Although the economy and the housing sector are shaky, Miller said he saw the high-end activity as a vote of confidence for Hamptons real estate independent of the stock market. Typically, Hamptons sales are closely tied to <a href="/topics/Wall_Street">Wall Street</a>, which has been jettisoning jobs all year. 
 Buyers seem to have more confidence in the stability of real estate prices than in financial markets, Miller said. "That one factor is driving demand and that's what we're seeing in Manhattan as well." 
 On the rest of the Island, the median closing price of $365,000 was a 3.2 percent drop from $377,250 a year earlier but an increase from the second quarter's $350,000, data show. 
 Also, third quarter closings jumped 22 percent from the preceding quarter; the second quarter includes the prime spring house-hunting season, which was slow this year, Miller said.

Classifieds

Real Estate

BZHOME27

Sales, prices rise for Hampton homes

for sale sign

<div style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial'; TEXT-DECORATION: none" class="text"> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 Debated for 17 years. &nbsp;Rejected by the Town of Oyster Bay. &nbsp;Overruled by the state's highest court.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;None of that is stopping <a href="/topics/Taubman_Centers%2C_Inc.">Taubman Centers Inc.</a>, one of the nation's biggest shopping center developers, from renewing its push to build a 750,000-square-foot luxury mall at the former Cerro Wire site in Syosset.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The $700-million Mall at Oyster Bay, the company argues, would create 3,500 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent retail jobs, and generate about $30 million annually in local sales and real estate tax revenue at a time when the region needs an economic and employment boost.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;It would be the first new large-scale mall construction on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> since 1997, when <a href="/topics/Westbury%2C_NY">Westbury</a>'s The Mall at The Source opened. &nbsp;The $440-million Tanger Outlets at the Arches, opened in 2008 in <a href="/topics/Deer_Park%2C_NY">Deer Park</a>, is a designer outlet outdoor mall.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Town officials and residents living near the Syosset site say a mall would diminish their quality of life, create traffic congestion, offer retail jobs with minimal pay and deprive the area of needed young-adult and senior housing that could be built on the site.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Over the years, the Taubman-Cerro Wire saga has become the archetype of the battle over development on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>, pitting developers' promises of economic benefits against residents' fears that their quality of life would suffer.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But the timing of Taubman's new push -- when the region is beginning to emerge from <a href="/topics/Economic_Recession">recession</a> -- is in the company's favor, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group, a <a href="/topics/Port_Washington%2C_NY">Port Washington</a>-based market research firm. &nbsp;"Consumers are looking for places to spend money as they move out of 'frugal fatigue,'" he said.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No public funding
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The mall would be built with private funding, gaining it greater favor than publicly financed projects such as the stalled <a href="/topics/Nassau_Coliseum">Nassau Coliseum</a> redevelopment, Cohen said. &nbsp;
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Chief operating officer Bill Taubman touted the project for "regional significance" designation at the Nov. 1 meeting of the <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> Regional Economic Development Council, a group of political and business leaders that develops plans for growth and job creation.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The renewed mall effort surprised opponents of the development. &nbsp;Hundreds of them, including town Supervisor John <a href="/topics/John_Venditto">Venditto</a>, protested at the property on Nov. 6.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Venditto earlier this month said the project will continue to meet resistance. &nbsp;"We have the economic issues and the quality-of-life issues," he said. &nbsp;"From the standpoint of the town government and ...the residents who live here, the quality-of-life issues still outweigh the economic issues. "
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The fight over the 39-acre Robbins Lane lot, now overgrown with weeds and surrounded by a rusting fence and barbed wire, has raged since Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman bought the property in 1994 and said it wanted to build a mall.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The town rejected the project on environmental grounds a decade ago. &nbsp;After years of litigation, a state appeals court upheld that decision in 2009.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bill Taubman would not say when he planned to restart the town approval process. &nbsp;He said he is concentrating on building consensus.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"If we're able to build a broad-based coalition of people who are sensible-thinking and willing to commit to trying to move the economy of Long Island forward in a sensible and thoughtful way, then I think that at the end of the day, we will be successful," he said.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph"> &nbsp;<a href="/topics/Nordstrom%2C_Inc.">Nordstrom</a> to be anchor
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The mall is to be anchored by <a href="/topics/Nordstrom%2C_Inc.">Nordstrom</a>, <a href="/topics/Neiman_Marcus">Neiman Marcus</a> and Barneys <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a>. &nbsp;Officials for <a href="/topics/Nordstrom%2C_Inc.">Nordstrom</a> confirmed the retailer is still onboard; <a href="/topics/Neiman_Marcus">Neiman Marcus</a> and Barneys declined to comment.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The development council on Nov. 10 endorsed the mall as one of seven projects of regional significance.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Taubman representatives have sought support from more than a dozen regional business and labor groups, including the Building &amp; Construction Trades Council of <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> and <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> Counties.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"We're getting a reputation as an island where nothing is getting done," said <a href="/topics/Peter_Goldsmith">Peter Goldsmith</a>, chairman of the <a href="/topics/Melville%2C_NY">Melville</a>-based Long Island Software and Technology Network. &nbsp;"Let's get people to sit down -- not just people who say no for no's sake -- and let's get something that will work for the area. "
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Community groups opposed to the project, organized as the Cerro Wire Coalition, favor a mixed-use development with residences, a hotel, and office and retail space.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Discussion should be within the community for the betterment of the community and the betterment of Long Island," said coalition chairman Todd Fabricant of <a href="/topics/East_Norwich%2C_NY">East Norwich</a>.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But Taubman said his company was best positioned to develop the site. &nbsp;"There is no other form of development that has a private-sector developer with the financial capability to build on this site," he said.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Taubman company is well-capitalized and has a strong track record for successful developments, said Alexander Goldfarb, an analyst with Sandler O'Neill + Partners. &nbsp;"The Taubman portfolio generates the highest sales per square foot of any of the publicly traded companies," he said.
 </div> 
 <div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Taubman has built more than 20 malls, including a luxury mall in Short Hills, N.J. Its Salt Lake City project is the only mall currently under construction in the U.S.
 </div> 
</div>

totaub28

Battle of the Oyster Bay Mall redux

toMALL07  cropped  12.26.11

Opposition to the AvalonBay multifamily housing development slated for <a href="/topics/Huntington_Station%2C_NY">Huntington Station</a> didn't end with the town's approval of the project. 
 The Greater Huntington Civic Group late last month filed a State Supreme Court lawsuit against Huntington Town and its planning board, developer <a href="/topics//AvalonBay_Communities,_Inc.">AvalonBay Communities Inc.</a>, and property owner Evergreen Estates in an effort to reverse the board's support of the 379-unit project. 
 In June, the town board approved a change of zoning for the 26.6-acre site a half-mile from the Huntington <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Rail_Road">Long Island Rail Road</a> station. The decision came after more than a year of community meetings, revised plans and protests. 
 "There is absolutely no public <a href="/topics/Benefit_%28designer%29">benefit</a> to change our zoning laws which would allow a 379-unit development in the middle of <a href="/topics/Huntington_Station%2C_NY">Huntington Station</a>," said Steven Spucces, president of the civic group, which was incorporated in January. "There will be an adverse and irrevocable impact to our schools, drinking water, sewer systems, and a dangerous increase to traffic given the location of our hospital on Park Avenue." 
 Town spokesman A.J. Carter said the lawsuit was expected and is "now in the hands of lawyers." 
 Matthew Whalen, vice president of <a href="/topics//AvalonBay_Communities,_Inc.">AvalonBay Communities</a>, wrote in an email that he is confident the $100-million project will proceed. 
 "As became evident during the extensive public hearings and discussion leading up to the approval of this development, Avalon Huntington Station is clearly beneficial to the community," Whelan said. "It provides much needed high quality housing, produces millions of dollars in economic benefits, and will spark the rehabilitation of the neighborhood." 
 Evergreen representatives could not be reached. 
 Spucces said the zoning change sets precedence for more high-density housing in Huntington and exceeds the density of surrounding areas. Before the change, the site was allowed 109 single-family homes. 
 "My organization does not have a strong say on what goes on on private property," Spucces said. "We would not have a leg to stand on if the current zoning to build 109 homes was in place."

Long Island

Suffolk

TOAVAL25

Group files suit against AvalonBay project

Avalon Bay CROP

Nicholas Cosmo, whose $405-million Ponzi scheme bilked more than 4,000 people, many of them on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>, was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison by a federal judge who castigated him for swindling people of "modest backgrounds" out of money that was "the product of years of hard work," including children's college and retirement funds. 
 Cosmo, 40, of <a href="/topics/Lake_Grove%2C_NY">Lake Grove</a>, who became known as the mini-<a href="/topics/Bernard_Madoff">Madoff</a>, also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Denis Hurley in <a href="/topics/Central_Islip%2C_NY">Central Islip</a> to pay $179 million in restitution to his known victims. But Hurley noted that because Cosmo has almost no resources, it is unlikely that the victims will get back much. 
 Cosmo's fraud was dwarfed by <a href="/topics/Bernard_Madoff">Bernard Madoff</a>'s billion-dollar Ponzi scheme in both the amount and the more affluent background of many victims. 
 Before he was sentenced, Cosmo said of his victims, "I hurt these people, good, blue-collar people. I feel very bad. I know in my heart, I never intended to hurt anyone." 
 In imposing sentence, Hurley scoffed at Cosmo's claim that he did not start out as a swindler, noting the operation of his five-year-long Ponzi scheme began several months after Cosmo ended a 21-month federal prison term for fraud. 
 Cosmo's attorney Richard Levitt had argued that his client should get a lenient sentence because his crime was compelled by the need for the money to feed a lifelong gambling addiction -- "an addiction just as powerful and debilitating as a heroin addiction." He also said that Cosmo had a modest personal lifestyle, taking in only $500,000 as the scheme ran between October of 2003 and January of 2009. 
 Federal sentencing guidelines, which judges do not have to follow, had recommended a sentence of between 27 and 33 3/4 years in prison. 
 Hurley did not explain why he imposed the 25-year sentence. But at one point in his remarks, the judge noted a recent sentencing ruling by another judge who said that the guidelines unfairly inflated suggested sentences by basing them disproportionately on financial loss. 
 Cosmo operated his scheme out of two <a href="/topics/Hauppauge%2C_NY">Hauppauge</a>-based companies, Agape World and Agape Merchant Advance, promising victims high-rates of interest by investing in bridge loans to commercial borrowers, according to federal prosecutors Demetri Jones and Grace Cucchissi. 
 Several of his victims had asked Hurley to give Cosmo the maximum 40-year sentence permissible under law, which went beyond the suggested guideline sentence. But afterward some victims did not object to Hurley's sentencing decision. 
 Kevin Milano, 55, of <a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a>, a school administrator, who said he lost $210,000, said, "As a victim, I felt one way. But a judge is supposed to take emotion out of things." 
 Ellen Gabriel, 63, a hairdresser from East <a href="/topics/Yaphank%2C_NY">Yaphank</a>, said she had lost her $130,000 life savings to Cosmo, "and now I won't be able to retire." 
 But of the sentence, she said, "I can live with that. I just hope he is so different in 25 years when he gets out of prison that he doesn't commit any crimes."

Business

BZSENT15

Nicholas Cosmo sentenced for Ponzi scheme

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to a record 3.91 percent in the week before Christmas, the third time this year rates have hit new lows. &nbsp; 
<div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="/topics/Freddie_Mac">Freddie Mac</a> said Thursday the average on the 30-year home loan fell from 3.94 percent the previous week. &nbsp;The 3.91 percent rate is the lowest average for long-term fixed mortgages on records dating to the 1950s. &nbsp;The average on 15-year fixed mortgages was unchanged at 3.21 percent, also a record. &nbsp;
</div> 
<div class="paragraph">
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Low rates offer an opportunity to buy a home or refinance, but many people either can't take advantage of the rates or have already done so. &nbsp;This year is shaping up to be one of the worst ever for home sales.
</div>

bzmort23

Mortgage rate hits new low -- 3.91%

for sale sign 12.26.11

The number of borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth fell slightly on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> during the third quarter, a new report said. 
 But CoreLogic, which tracks mortgages, said there was an uptick in the numbers of homeowners in danger of losing all their home equity. 
 Data show 5.3 percent, or 28,796 homes on the Island, had negative equity, down from the second quarter's 5.4 percent, or 29,092 homes. 
 An additional 1.9 percent, or 10,211 homeowners, were potentially facing negative equity, which means they had less than 5 percent equity in their properties, the third quarter report said. That's slightly up from 10,074 homes in the preceding quarter, figures show. 
 Economists, mortgage experts and public officials have been concerned about negative equity. Homeowners with little or negative equity are more likely to default, they said. That adds to the inventory of pending foreclosures and drives home prices down, they said. 
 To real estate agent Gregory Berkowitz, negative equity has turned a <a href="/topics/Lattingtown%2C_NY">Lattingtown</a> home, last listed for $1.4 million, into a bargain. It has 12,000 square feet, which translates to almost $117 per square foot. 
 "The home is the least expensive home on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> per square foot," said Berkowitz, regional sales director for Laffey Fine Homes in <a href="/topics/Syosset%2C_NY">Syosset</a>. 
 The owner is eager to get out of his $1.8 million mortgage with a "short sale," in which the lender takes less than owed if a buyer is found, he said. 
 But potential buyers tend to make unreasonable offers when they know the homeowner has no equity in the house, the sales director said. 
 "People think they're going to get a better deal," Berkowitz said. "Every time I deal with a home that's in foreclosure or a short sale, people smell the blood." 
 The Island's dip in negative equity rates dovetailed with the national picture, which showed 22.1 percent of homeowners were in negative equity during the third quarter, down from 22.5 percent in the preceding quarter, CoreLogic said. 
 Mark Fleming, CoreLogic's chief economist, said those rates are still high, and the problem holds back the recovery of the housing market and the broader economy: "Although slightly down, negative equity remains very high and renders many borrowers vulnerable when negative economic shocks occur, such as job loss or illness."

Nassau

LIMORT30

Fewer LI mortgages are under water

lsmain06.web  cropped 1.5.12

<a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>'s <a href="/topics/Unemployment">unemployment</a> rate fell to 6.7 percent last month from 7.2 percent a year ago, the state <a href="/topics/Labor_Department">Labor Department</a> said Tuesday. 
 The decline came during a month in which the number of jobs on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> shrank. So the falling <a href="/topics/Unemployment">unemployment</a> rate seems to be attributable largely to people finding jobs off the Island, baby boomers retiring from the workforce, and discouraged workers no longer seeking employment, experts said. The <a href="/topics/Unemployment">unemployment</a> rate measures only unemployed people seeking jobs. 
 The department reported last week that <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> had 8,600 fewer jobs in November than a year earlier -- a figure that suggests a worsening job picture. 
 "In our case," said Michael Crowell, the department's principal economist for Long Island, "we have a labor force that is declining in size." 
 Economist Pearl Kamer of the Long Island Association, a business group, agreed. "This is why falling unemployment rates do not necessarily tell us anything about the health of the labor market," she said. 
 Year-to-year comparisons are used for the local unemployment figures, instead of month-to-month, because the data are not adjusted for seasonal variation. 
 The Island's unemployment rate has been below year-ago levels each month since July, Crowell said. Last month's rate was the lowest for a November since 2008. 
 There were 97,200 Long <a href="/topics/New_York_Islanders">Islanders</a> unemployed and actively seeking work last month, the department said, compared with 106,100 a year earlier. <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> and <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> had 1,241,800 jobs last month. 
 <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a>'s unemployment rate was higher than <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a>'s -- 7 percent, compared with 6.4 percent. Once again, <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> Village had the highest unemployment rate of any Long Island town, city or village -- 8.7 percent. 
 Job seekers looking elsewhere in <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> will find a higher jobless rate in <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> City -- 9.1 percent, the labor department said. But <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> City had 23,500 more jobs last month than a year earlier, Crowell noted. 
 Collectively, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester's rates were a bit lower than Long Island's -- 6.3 percent, the department said. They had more jobs in November than a year earlier. 
 The statewide unemployment rate also fell to 7.9 percent from 8.2 percent, the department said. More than 34,400 new jobs were added statewide in November. 
 The national unemployment rate for November, without seasonal adjustment, was 8.2 percent. 
 November was the seventh straight month in which the total number of jobs fell on the Island from a year earlier. Gains in certain private sector jobs again were outweighed by losses in other categories such as public jobs, especially in school districts. Gains came in health care, social assistance, retailing and certain other categories, the labor department said. 
 The trends were similar in October, when the rate was 6.6 percent, a drop from 7 percent a year earlier, Crowell said. 
 &nbsp; 
<h4> LI'S JOBLESS STATS</h4> 
 NOV. 2010 
 LI unemployment: 7.2 percent 
 Number of jobs on LI: 1,250,400 
 NOV. 2011 
 LI unemployment: 6.7 percent 
 Number of jobs on LI: 1,241,800 
 Source: New York State <a href="/topics/Labor_Department">Labor Department</a>

BZJOBS21

LI jobless rate falls but hints at gloom

job fair  CROPPED reo

<a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County residents Monday rejected a plan to borrow up to $400 million for a new <a href="/topics/Nassau_Coliseum">Nassau Coliseum</a> and minor league baseball park. 
 With 99 percent of precincts reporting, the vote was 57 percent against to 43 percent for the referendum, according to the Board of Elections website. 
 "The people of <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County have spoken and I can take joy in knowing that we celebrated democracy today," <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County Executive Edward Mangano told supporters at the Coliseum Monday night. 
 "Over the course of the past several weeks, we all learned a lot about our county and what is needed to improve our local economy," he said. "I can tell you this, tonight is not the end of our journey, but merely the beginning. In the coming weeks I will explore a path for new opportunities and growth in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County." 
 <a href="/topics/New_York_Islanders">Islanders</a> owner Charles <a href="/topics/Charles_Wang">Wang</a>, speaking after Mangano, said, "I have to tell you I'm disappointed and to put it very bluntly, I'm heartbroken. I have to tell you it's a very emotional day for us." 
 Wang said that, despite the disappointment, "we're committed to the <a href="/topics/Nassau_Coliseum">Nassau Coliseum</a> until 2015. We will honor our lease." 
 But <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> Democratic chairman <a href="/topics/Jay_Jacobs">Jay Jacobs</a>, who opposed the plan for taxpayers to borrow up to $400 million, said late last night, "The voters clearly have rejected a property tax hike for this purpose. Now it's our obligation to find the solution that enables us to build a new Coliseum with private money, not taxpayer money." 
 Proponents had pegged a new arena as an essential cog in spurring economic development throughout the cash-strapped county and in creating 3,000 permanent jobs. 
 Opponents warned of property tax hikes and noted the borrowing over its 30-year life would cost some $800 million. 
 On a day of light turnout, the single-issue referendum asked residents to decide whether they want the county to borrow up to $400 million for construction of a new arena, a minor league baseball park and other economic development projects in the 77-acre <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> hub area. 
 Jimmy Castellane, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> and <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> counties, expressed disappointment but said his members would "continue to fight" for a new arena. 
 "We'll continue to try to move forward with progress. We know something has to get built here," he said. "I have thousands of guys sitting at home now," out of work. 
 Wang had said the team would leave when its lease expires in 2015 if a new arena is not built, raising the prospect that the 39-year-old arena could close without a major tenant. 
 Voters offered sharply different views of the project as they emerged from polling places Monday. 
 Irving and Alice Lyons walked out of a <a href="/topics/Uniondale%2C_NY">Uniondale</a> polling place together and said they had both voted no. For them, the decision was about taxes and traffic. "He can afford to build it himself," Irving Lyons said of Wang. 
 Gay Aiello, 78, of <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a>, said he had voted to authorize the borrowing, fearing <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>'s only major sports team would leave. "If they leave us, they're going to leave a big empty space," he said. 
 The proposal would have kept the <a href="/topics/New_York_Islanders">Islanders</a> in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> until at least 2045. Mangano said that without an anchor tenant, the Coliseum would close, taking 2,600 jobs. The shortfall in sales tax revenue from a shuttered Coliseum would cause an average property tax increase of $16 per homeowner, a county consultant said. 
 <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> would have received a minimum of $14 million annually in revenue from the <a href="/topics/New_York_Islanders">Islanders</a>. The annual debt service on the Coliseum piece of the development would have been about $26 million a year, or more than $800 million over the 30-year life of the bonds. 
 The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Budget Review says the net cost could have been as little as $13.80 for the average homeowner per year. If the team revenue did not go to tax reduction, the average homeowner would have paid an additional $58 per year, the office said. Team and county officials said the revenue from the team, plus increases in sales taxes a new arena is expected to generate, would have offset any tax increase. 
 With Sid Cassese, Mikala Jamison, William Murphy, Candice Ruud, John Valenti and Patrick Whittle

POCOLILOSE

Voters reject new Coliseum plan

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In a blow to <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>'s pride, <a href="/topics/Arrow_Electronics%2C_Inc.">Arrow Electronics Inc.</a>, the region's largest publicly traded company, announced plans Tuesday to move its headquarters to Colorado from <a href="/topics/Melville%2C_NY">Melville</a>. 
Arrow, a distributor of semiconductors, computer servers and other electronic components, is receiving $11.4 million in tax credits from Colorado in return for transferring the headquarters designation to a large company office in Englewood, near <a href="/topics/Denver%2C_CO">Denver</a>. Arrow promised to create 1,250 jobs in the Rocky Mountain State during the next five years. 
Executives pledged that no jobs would be cut on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>. About 550 people work at the administrative center on Marcus Drive in Melville, an office in <a href="/topics/Hauppauge%2C_NY">Hauppauge</a> and the <a href="/topics/Nu_Horizons_Electronics_Corp.">Nu Horizons Electronics</a> subsidiary, also in <a href="/topics/Melville%2C_NY">Melville</a>. 
"Our <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> operations will continue to play a key role in the company," said Arrow chief executive Michael J. Long, a Colorado resident. 
Despite such assurances, local business executives and economic developers Tuesday expressed concern about the company's long-term commitment to Long Island. 
"This occurring in a weak economy on Long Island is psychologically extremely detrimental because it shows our technology leaving," said local builder Jack Kulka, who helped start the <a href="/topics/Hauppauge%2C_NY">Hauppauge</a> Industrial Association and went to high school with former Arrow chief Stephen Kaufman. 
"Based on what has happened to other companies that have shifted their headquarters, there has been a gradual decrease in their employment," Kulka said, referring to Grumman Co., once the Island's dominant employer. 
Colorado Gov. <a href="/topics/John_Hickenlooper">John Hickenlooper</a> has ordered his economic development team to lure some of Arrow's 1,200 suppliers to the state, an initiative endorsed by Arrow. Information about <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> suppliers wasn't immediately available. 
Asked why Colorado was a better headquarters location, Arrow spokesman John Hourigan cited that state's four-year plan to expand technology employment, which will be centered on Arrow. He also said the company's Colorado operations, where about 1,000 people work, accounted for 57 percent of last year's sales of $18.7 billion. 
"This is an address change," Hourigan said. "No one is leaving New York." 
Arrow began as a radio store in Manhattan in 1935 and expanded to <a href="/topics/Mineola%2C_NY">Mineola</a> in 1956. Over time, Arrow has grown into an electronics giant; <a href="/topics/FORTUNE_Magazine">Fortune Magazine</a> ranked it the nation's 140th largest public company by sales last year. The other Long Island companies on the magazine's list are medical supplier <a href="/topics/Henry_Schein%2C_Inc.">Henry Schein Inc.</a> (No. 317) and <a href="/topics/Cablevision">Cablevision</a> Systems Corp. (No. 321), which owns Newsday. 
Despite Arrow's New York roots, state officials said they weren't given the chance to counter Colorado's incentives. 
<a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County Executive <a href="/topics/Steve_Levy">Steve Levy</a> and an official at Empire State Development Corp., New York's key economic agency, responded Tuesday by telephoning Arrow about possible aid to keep its headquarters on Long Island. 
"We would have made every attempt to provide the company with an incentive package," said Austin Shafran of the development corporation. 
In 1995, the state gave Arrow $400,000 in exchange for protecting 450 jobs and creating another 50. The county's Industrial Development Agency also provided help in the early 1990s. 
Arrow's move comes weeks after <a href="/topics/IBM">IBM</a>, Global Foundries and other computer chip makers agreed to invest $4.4 billion upstate and employ 6,900 workers. In addition, Canon USA is moving its North American headquarters from <a href="/topics/Lake_Success%2C_NY">Lake Success</a> to a new building in Melville. 
Nevertheless, executives at a Long Island Association meeting Tuesday were depressed. "This was an anchor company for Long Island," said Michael Faltischek, chairman of the Long Island Angel Network, which links investors with entrepreneurs. "I hope this leads to efforts to stem the tide" of businesses leaving. 
With James Bernstein&nbsp;and Ellen Yan 
&nbsp; 
<h3>Arrow at a glance</h3> 
Headquarters: 50 Marcus Dr., Melville 
Leadership: Michael J. Long, 52, chairman, president and chief executive 
Business: Distributor of electronic components and computer equipment for industrial and commercial uses. 
Employees overall: 12,700 worldwide 
Employees on Long Island: 550 
2010 sales: $18.7 billion 
2010 profit: $480 million or $4.01 a share 
<a href="/topics/NYSE">NYSE</a> ticker symbol: ARW 
Rank in Fortune 500: 140 (by sales) 
Source: Arrow 
&nbsp; 
<h3>Arrow Electronics timeline</h3> 
1935: Maurice ("Murray") Goldberg opens Arrow Radio on Cortlandt Street in Manhattan, selling used radios and parts at retail. Later sells new radios and parts. 
1946: Incorporated as <a href="/topics/Arrow_Electronics%2C_Inc.">Arrow Electronics Inc.</a> 
1956: Second store opens, in <a href="/topics/Mineola%2C_NY">Mineola</a>. 
1961: Shares go public, on American Stock Exchange. Headquarters moved shortly afterward to <a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a>. 
1968: Partnership of three recent <a href="/topics/Harvard_Business_School">Harvard Business School</a> grads -- B. Duke Glenn Jr., Roger E. Green and John C. Waddell -- leads private investor group to acquire controlling interest in Arrow. Glenn is chairman. 
1970: Sales total $9 million, Arrow is the 12th largest U.S. electronic distributor. 
1979: Stock listed on <a href="/topics/NYSE">New York Stock Exchange</a>. 
Dec. 4, 1980: Thirteen executives, including chairman and president Glenn and co-founder Green, die in a fire at a Westchester conference center. Waddell, who wasn't at the meeting, becomes chairman. Sales in 1980 total $177 million and Arrow is country's second largest electronics distributor. 
Dec. 13, 2000: Agrees to lease an entire 163,762 square-foot office building in Melville from Reckson Associates Realty Corp. 
May 28, 2003: Announces elimination of 400 jobs, 30 of them on Long Island, in restructuring. At that time, about 1,100 New Yorkers work for the firm at sites in <a href="/topics/Yaphank%2C_NY">Yaphank</a>, Hauppauge and Melville. 
July 25, 2003: Announces it will shut <a href="/topics/Yaphank%2C_NY">Yaphank</a> distribution facility, eliminating 130 more jobs. 
April 4, 2005: Announces it will eliminate 180 sales support jobs, including one on Long Island, and outsource the work. Arrow employs 800 locally and 11,000 globally. 
Oct. 30, 2009: Announces layoffs of 100 of 543 employees from Melville headquarters. Positions being relocated to Englewood, Col. 
April 27, 2011: Stock hits new high on profit jump -- $47.50. It closed Tuesday at $30.22, down $1.45. 
Oct. 11, 2011: Announces plans to shift headquarters from Melville to Englewood, Col. 
Compiled by Tom Incantalupo

BZARRO12

Arrow Electronics to move HQ to Colorado

Arrow Electronics 

<a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> was awarded $101.6 million Thursday in state aid to help jump-start job creation. 
 Gov. Andrew M. <a href="/topics/Andrew_Cuomo">Cuomo</a> said the funds would go toward 66 building projects, education initiatives and business expansions in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> and <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> counties. The grant money and state tax credits would provide momentum for key developments such as the <a href="/topics/Wyandanch%2C_NY">Wyandanch</a> Rising blight transformation project, <a href="/topics/Brentwood%2C_NY">Brentwood</a>'s Heartland minicity and the <a href="/topics/Ronkonkoma%2C_NY">Ronkonkoma</a> <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a>-MacArthur Airport transit hub. 
 The aid comes as <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> struggles with a weak economy and job losses even as employment grows elsewhere in <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a>. The state funds seek to create good-paying positions in technology to replace the tens of thousands of jobs lost at defense contractors in the 1990s. 
 All of <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a>'s 10 regions got some aid Thursday. But the big winners, besides the Island, were <a href="/topics/Buffalo%2C_NY">Buffalo</a>, <a href="/topics/Syracuse%2C_NY">Syracuse</a> and the North Country, which encompasses the Adirondack Mountains. <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> City, which was one of six runners-up, received $66.2 million for 50 projects. 
 A five-member panel, appointed by Cuomo, judged the job-creation plans written by regional economic development councils, also appointed by Cuomo. The plans lay out economic goals for the next five years and will be used to evaluate whether projects receive <a href="/topics/Albany%2C_NY">Albany</a>'s backing. 
 Cuomo said he established the competition in July because "growth is going to come from a regional development strategy, there is no single <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> State economy." 
 Nearly $800 million in awards were announced Thursday from the $1 billion set aside for the purpose. The final $200 million will be distributed before March 31, according to <a href="/topics/Kenneth_Adams">Kenneth Adams</a>, Cuomo's economic development czar. 
 <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> and the other three big regional winners, as part of their total awards, each received $25 million in grants and $15 million in state tax credits that have yet to be designated for specific projects. A spokesman for <a href="/topics/Kenneth_Adams">Adams</a> said the projects singled out for help Thursday would not share in this aid. 
 Regional runners-up did not receive this undesignated money. 
 Cuomo, a <a href="/topics/U.S._Democratic_Party">Democrat</a>, and legislative leaders have committed to including funds in the 2012-13 state budget for another competition. The amount has yet to be determined, according to their respective spokesmen. 
 "The councils were a great way to bring communities together, to build the economy," said state Sen. <a href="/topics/Dean_Skelos">Dean Skelos</a> (R-<a href="/topics/Rockville_Centre%2C_NY">Rockville Centre</a>), the majority leader. "We will continue funding." 
 Skelos joined Cuomo and other state leaders for a one-hour ceremony in a packed theater near the Capitol. <a href="/topics/CNBC">CNBC</a> anchor <a href="/topics/Maria_Bartiromo">Maria Bartiromo</a>, a Brooklyn native, introduced the speakers and winners. Former NBC anchor Garrick Utley, who most recently led a SUNY think tank, narrated one of two films that were shown. 
 Cuomo presented engraved plaques to the leaders of each regional economic development council. Kevin Law, president of the <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> Association business group, and Stuart Rabinowitz, <a href="/topics/Hofstra_University">Hofstra University</a> president, led the local 22-member council. 
 Later, asked about the <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> plan, one judge said he was impressed by ongoing collaborations between researchers and business owners to commercialize inventions. 
 "The council thought deeply about how to revitalize communities that are struggling, how to capitalize on mass transit to encourage development," said Bruce Katz, metropolitan policy director at the <a href="/topics/Brookings_Institution">Brookings Institution</a>, a Washington think tank. "This was a suburban renewal plan."

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