Sloan Kettering to build cancer center near Nassau Coliseum, Mangano announces
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center will spend $140 million in private funds to build an outpatient treatment and research facility adjacent to the Nassau Coliseum, County Executive Edward Mangano said. Credit: Nassau County
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center will spend $140 million in private funds to build an outpatient treatment and research facility adjacent to the Nassau Coliseum, County Executive Edward Mangano said.
Mangano will announce in his State of the County address Wednesday night that Nassau will sell 5 acres of land on the southwest portion of the Coliseum property to Sloan Kettering for a new cancer treatment and research center.
"This project fits with our vision to build up the health care industry in Nassau County and complements the educational institutions in the area," Mangano said in an interview.
Mangano, a Republican who has been negotiating with Sloan Kettering for about six months, declined to provide the financial terms of the deal, which he said are still under negotiation.
The contract requires approval by the GOP-controlled county legislature.
Patients would get chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments at the two-story, 105,000-square-foot facility. Clinical research also would be conducted, Mangano said.
"It's a terrific location and provides tremendous ease of access," said Avice Meehan, a Sloan Kettering spokeswoman. "Our goal is to ensure there's no interruption in patient care to have the smoothest transition possible."
Meehan said Sloan Kettering will absorb its Rockville Centre cancer center into the new facility in East Garden City.
It hopes to open the new facility by 2018, when its lease in Rockville Centre expires. It was not immediately clear how many employees work at the Rockville Centre location.
Sloan's outpatient cancer center in Commack will remain open.
The new facility would have roughly 250 employees earning average annual salary and benefits of $150,000, Mangano said.
Developer Bruce Ratner plans to spend $229 million to build a sports and entertainment complex at the Coliseum, including a downsized arena, restaurants, clubs, a bowling alley and movie theater.
Ratner, executive chairman of Forest City Ratner Cos., has signed off on the Sloan Kettering move, said Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin.
A Ratner spokesman declined to comment.
Sloan Kettering, which describes itself as the world's oldest and largest private cancer center, would also build a 450-spot tiered parking garage on the property, which is near Hempstead Turnpike.
The garage would be accessible to Coliseum visitors at night and on weekends, Mangano said.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's 2015 budget also includes funding to build a larger structured parking garage at the Coliseum.
The size and cost of that garage have not been disclosed.
Donald Monti, president of Plainview-based Renaissance Downtowns and the Coliseum's "master developer" for the non-entertainment areas of the Coliseum property, also wants to build a bio-tech park that would house companies involved in health care, robotics and technology. A Monti spokesman did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
With Paul LaRocco
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
