{"id":547090,"date":"2026-04-08T09:17:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/547090\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T09:17:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:17:28","slug":"remembering-the-lighthouse-project-and-why-it-didnt-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/547090\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering The Lighthouse Project, and why it didn’t happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

What was the Lighthouse Project?<\/p>\n

Former Islanders owner Charles Wang had a grand but ultimately unsuccessful plan to renovate Nassau Coliseum and redevelop the adjoining area, highlighted by a 60-story lighthouse. It\u2019s worth revisiting the twisted tale of the project with the Islanders concluding their fifth regular season at UBS Arena on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The initial plans for redevelopment of and around the Coliseum, first unveiled in 2004, were grand in scale and cost. The Lighthouse Project was estimated to cost $3.74 billion and was expected to generate $71 million in annual tax revenue for Nassau County, adding 75,000 construction jobs and 19,000 permanent jobs.\u00a0At the time the Lighthouse Project was developed,\u00a0Nassau Coliseum was the fourth-oldest \u00a0arena in the NHL and the smallest in terms of capacity.<\/p>\n

In addition to a renovated Coliseum, the project proposal called for 42 new or renovated buildings, 2,300 housing units, one million square feet of office space, 500,000 square feet for retail, a sports technology center and a luxury hotel across its 150 acres. A canal was to run through the land, abutting a \u201ccelebration plaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thought was, if something needed to be celebrated, like a parade for Columbus Day, it could be held in the redeveloped land around the Coliseum. The project would have connected the redeveloped land to Eisenhower Park and to Hofstra University and Nassau Community College.<\/p>\n

The developers estimated construction would take eight to 10 years with work being completed on the Coliseum within three years.<\/p>\n

The Lighthouse Project was proposed as privately financed and Nassau County accepted a scaled-down proposal in 2007. But the Town of Hempstead did not approve the zoning changes needed as it also investigated the potential environmental impact of such a huge construction. There was a counterproposal in 2010, and in 2011 a\u00a0referendum for Nassau County voters to decide whether to authorize the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lighthouse was really a visionary project that would have built a new Coliseum at no cost to the taxpayers and created a central destination for Nassau County,\u201d Rep. Tom Suozzi, who as\u00a0Nassau County Executive from 2002-09 advocated for The Lighthouse Project, told Newsday. \u201cPeople would have flocked there. It would have expanded the tax base and created a really fun environment. It really got killed because of local politics.<\/p>\n

“The only regret was we tried to do something very big and bold all at once instead of piecemeal. People just couldn\u2019t handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n

How it all started \"Nassau<\/p>\n

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, Islanders owner Charles Wang, Scott Rechler and other Lighthouse Project supporters march from a rally at Nassau Coliseum to Hofstra for a public hearing on Aug. 4, 2009, in Uniondale. Credit: Newsday\/Photo by Howard Schnapp<\/p>\n

The Coliseum opened in 1972, the same year the Islanders were born, and it became legendary for the home-ice advantage it provided through the Stanley Cup dynasty of 1980-83 and the record 19 straight playoff series wins from 1980-84.<\/p>\n

But part of its charm \u2014 the proximity of the fans to the ice, the low ceiling \u2014 was also part of the building\u2019s flaws. The concourses were cramped. The lack of restrooms and the lines to get in became a joke \u2014 unless you were waiting on that line.<\/p>\n

By the mid-1990s, ownership issues and an aging Coliseum left the Islanders in disarray.<\/p>\n

Enter Wang, who became a part owner in 2000 and the majority owner in 2001. Hockey was not Wang\u2019s first love. He was a basketball fan who had once looked into owning the New York Jets.<\/p>\n

But Wang was also friends with Al D\u2019Amato, by then a former U.S. Senator for New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe called Charles and said, \u2018If you don\u2019t [buy the Islanders], then they\u2019re going to leave Long Island,\u201d said retired Islanders\u2019 executive Paul Lancey, the senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Lighthouse Project. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for that call, there\u2019s a good chance the Islanders wouldn\u2019t be on Long Island.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wang, who co-founded\u00a0software firm Computer Associates\u00a0in 1976, knew the Coliseum would not provide the revenue needed to compete in the NHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved him,\u201d said former Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, who played for the club from 2001-13. \u201cHe was like a father figure to me. You\u2019ve got to give him all the credit. He was a basketball guy. We used to play basketball. That\u2019s what he loved to do. And then he became a die-hard hockey fan. But he wanted to keep the Islanders on Long Island. I think he was probably happy about that. But I\u2019m sure it would have been nice to realize his dream of building that whole Lighthouse Project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Rechler, center, and Charles Wang during an architectural meeting on Aug. 14, 2007, in Uniondale. Credit: Newsday\/Karen Wiles Stabile<\/p>\n

One thing about Wang: He could never be accused of not dreaming big.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our first meetings was, \u2018How do we save the Coliseum?\u2019 \u201d said Lancey, who first worked with Wang in 1980 and joined the Islanders in 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe there were\u00a0talks of trying to find a solution, whether it be there or somewhere else,\u201d said Peter Laviolette, who coached the Islanders from 2001-03. \u201cI think it was pretty much focused there [the Coliseum] at the time. It was a great building. But, like everything, times change and demands and needs change out of buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 2007, Wang had partnered with Scott Rechler, the CEO of Long Island-based real estate company RexCorp, and re-submitted plans for a downsized Lighthouse Project. Instead of a 60-story Lighthouse, there would be two 30-story buildings connected by a footbridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had 212 outreach meetings trying to make it happen,\u201d Lancey said. \u201cThe politics was overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why there was pushback<\/p>\n

Wang had hoped politics would not impact The Lighthouse Project. In retrospect, that was unavoidable.<\/p>\n

There were rumors D\u2019Amato eventually turned against the project after Wang declined to hire him or his brother, Armand, as a lobbyist, though D\u2019Amato refuted that and Wang never commented on the subject.<\/p>\n

Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray submitted a counterproposal for The Lighthouse Project on July 12, 2010. That included a zoning plan for the area that permitted far less development and lower building heights. But Ed Mangano, who succeeded Suozzi as Nassau County Executive, and the project developers did not believe that counter proposal was economically viable.<\/p>\n

\"\"Newsday reporter Jim Baumbach remembers Islanders owner Charles Wang’s troubles with Hempstead Town politics in trying to get the Lighthouse Project off the ground.
\n Credit: Newsday\/Drew Singh; File Footage; Photo Credit: Bruce Bennett, Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke, Patrick E. McCarthy, Jim McIsaac, New York Islanders, Howard Schnapp<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally reached out to Kate a couple of times to try and get meetings,\u201d Lancey said. \u201cWe were getting calls from all other cities to move the team. It was a little frustrating. It was the entrenched politics.”<\/p>\n

Murray, who still works for the Town of Hempstead,\u00a0did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

While The Lighthouse Project was initially proposed as privately financed, its many twists and turns eventually led to a referendum for Nassau County voters in 2011 to authorize $400 million toward work on a new Coliseum as well as a minor-league baseball park and other projects within a 77-acre Nassau hub.<\/p>\n

The referendum was rejected, officially sounding a death knell on any remnants of The Lighthouse Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cSound bites ruled the day, not the facts,” Wang said on Aug. 1, 2011, the day of the vote, standing in front of supporters at the Coliseum.<\/p>\n

But the opposition was clear in its belief that taxpayer money should not be involved. If Wang wanted a new arena, he should pay for it.<\/p>\n

\"\"Newsday reporter Jim Baumbach remembers when Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano held a referendum to ask taxpayers to finance improvements to Nassau Coliseum. The public had a visceral reaction.
\n Credit: Newsday\/Drew Singh; File Footage; Photo Credit: Newsday \/ David Pokress, Karen Wiles Stabile<\/p>\n

Longtime WFAN radio host and Manhasset resident Mike Francesa believed the overall project “had merit,” but said the developers’ approach was, “pie in the sky.\u00a0Way too expensive. The plans way too over the top. Had no chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaving Long Island?<\/p>\n

Now that the Islanders are settled into UBS Arena, their state-of-the-art new home in Elmont, there can be some 20\/20 hindsight into all the maneuverings that got them there. At the time, though, there were no guarantees the Islanders would remain on Long Island.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two years before voters rejected the referendum, the Islanders agreed to play in a preseason game in Kansas City, Missouri, one of a handful of cities\u00a0shopping for an NHL franchise.<\/p>\n

The Islanders certainly seemed like a potential free agent once their lease at the Coliseum ended in 2015. And if that point could be made by playing a preseason game elsewhere, all the better.<\/p>\n

So on Jan. 15, 2009, the Islanders announced they would do just that in the upcoming fall against the Kings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we travel from city to city during the season, we come across Islanders fans throughout the country,\u201d then Islanders general manager Garth Snow said in a statement. \u201cI have had conversations with the Los Angeles Kings about an exhibition game and when they extended the invitation to play in Kansas City, I thought it provided a great opportunity to continue to grow our fan base.\u201d<\/p>\n

It certainly also left some uncertainty within the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was some thought that we were going to Kansas City,\u201d DiPietro said. \u201cThat was the real thought. It was tough. I love Long Island. I\u2019ve been here since I was drafted and it\u2019s a great place to be and the Coliseum was a great place to play.” <\/p>\n

Developer Bruce Ratner, who purchased the NBA\u2019s New Jersey Nets with an eye toward moving them into New York City, had a vision just as Wang had. Ratner\u2019s was about a state-of-the-art arena in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Ground was broken for Barclays Center in 2010, while Wang was still trying to develop a new Coliseum. Barclays Center was not built with hockey in mind.<\/p>\n

Eventually, it became clear moving the Islanders to Brooklyn, which they did for the 2015-16 season, and retrofitting Barclays Center to accommodate an ice rink, was the only solution for keeping the team in New York.<\/p>\n

\"\"Newsday reporter Jim Baumbach looks back on the Islanders’ long, meandering road from Nassau Coliseum to Barclays Center and finally UBS Arena.
\n Credit: Newsday\/Drew Singh; File Footage<\/p>\n

It proved to be an unhappy forced marriage.<\/p>\n

Neither the arena ownership nor the Islanders were happy with the financial returns. The players, who all still lived in Nassau County, hated the commute. The arena\u2019s infrastructure was simply not suitable for hockey.<\/p>\n

By the 2019-20 NHL season, the Islanders started splitting games between Brooklyn and the Coliseum, playing all three of their playoff rounds in 2021 at the Coliseum before closing that venerable building to the NHL for good.<\/p>\n

Fans\u2019 perspective<\/p>\n

Phil Jewell was too young while the Lighthouse Project was being fought over to care about politics, zoning concerns, who was paying for what or any of the other factors involved. His was a simple concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing the kid that I was then, all you kind of know is where are the Islanders going to be playing and is it going to be here?\u201d the now-30-year-old Massapequa resident said recently while attending an Islanders game at UBS Arena. \u201cAs a kid, you\u2019re a die-hard hockey fan and you\u2019re like, \u2018Am I going to be going to games next year or are they moving to Kansas, Quebec, wherever they were rumored to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid, you don\u2019t have many fears in the world. It\u2019s just like, \u2018Where are the Islanders playing next year?\u2019 That was kind of it. You were just scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow Islanders\u00a0fan Nicholas Hirshon of Forest Hills, who authored \u201cWe Want Fish Sticks: The Bizarre and Infamous Rebranding of the New York Islanders,\u201d in 2018, is 10 years older than Jewell, so he had a better understanding of the political and financial machinations of trying to make the Lighthouse Project a reality.<\/p>\n

And he was strongly in favor of it getting built.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was all-in on the Lighthouse Project,\u201d Hirshon said before a recent Islanders\u00a0home game. \u201cI remember when the first renderings came out and the jingle was, \u2018Take me to the Lighthouse and don\u2019t forget your smile.\u2019 You could send away for a Lighthouse hat for free in the mail and I got that. I remember looking at all of those renderings and thinking this is such an incredible way of transforming a space where, right now, before and after the game, there really isn\u2019t much to do. Unless you like hanging out in the lobby of the Long Island Marriott, there just isn\u2019t a lot around Nassau Coliseum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also seemed that Charles Wang was willing to put up a lot, almost all of the money, for this transformative project and the idea of an actual lighthouse tower that would send the beacon out whenever the Islanders won and be this landmark on Long Island, it just all felt right for bringing Long Island into the big leagues. And the response felt NIMBY (not in my backyard) to me of, \u2018We don\u2019t have large-scale projects on Long Island. We like things the way they are.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And when the Lighthouse referendum was rejected by voters?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like heartbroken\u00a0, \u00a0my buddies and I at the time,\u201d Jewell said. \u201cIt was just like a big cloud, like, now what?\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Hirshon, \u201cI was really stunned when the voters rejected the referendum. It happened around the time of the financial collapse. I feel like a lot of the public were viewing Charles Wang as another billionaire asking for public funds for his own development. It wasn\u2019t a very sympathetic place for him to be at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

UBS Arena and lasting memories<\/p>\n

A great irony of The Lighthouse Project is that the proposed 60-story lighthouse was one of the first elements to be eliminated.<\/p>\n

At UBS Arena, a blue, orange and white lighthouse approximately 20 feet tall stands on the upper concourse, near the team\u2019s four Stanley Cup banners and overlooking the goal the Islanders defend in the first and third periods.<\/p>\n

It is not, the team has said, an homage to Wang\u2019s grand plan. Instead, it\u2019s a nod to Long Island itself and its seafaring history.<\/p>\n

\"\"Former Islanders owner Charles Wang is credited with bringing the team to UBS Arena in Elmont, but he didn’t live to see his dream come to fruition. Newsday reporter Jim Baumbach remembers.
\n Credit: Newsday\/Drew Singh; File Footage; Photo Credit: Newsday \/ Thomas A. Ferrara, Andrew Gross; Jim McIsaac<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Elmont arena, built on the border between Nassau County and Queens, kept the Islanders on Long Island and finally gave them a modern home. The team\u00a0opened the\u00a0$1.3\u00a0billion UBS Arena at Belmont Park Nov. 20, 2021<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0UBS Arena isn\u2019t perfect, and there have been fan complaints about the parking<\/a> \u2014 most of it not adjacent to the arena \u2014 and the lack of tailgating as was enjoyed at the Coliseum. Many would have preferred a more central location in Nassau County.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Islanders’ lighthouse as seen on the second-level concourse at UBS Arena. Credit: Newsday\/Andrew Gross<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s adequate in that we have a state-of-the-art, first-class arena and it\u2019s home to the Islanders,\u201d Suozzi said when asked whether UBS Arena represented an adequate resolution to the journey that started with the initial Lighthouse Project proposal. \u201cIt\u2019s inadequate in that the Coliseum property is still moribund and [UBS Arena] is not centrally located.\u201d<\/p>\n

Islanders fans can come to UBS Arena and see a lighthouse. Just not the Lighthouse Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent two-thirds of my life living in Nassau County,\u201d Harding said. \u201cI know what Nassau politics are like. I really think there wasn\u2019t a lot of confidence on either side to get this done. Of course, we all know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

DiPietro remembers following every twist and turn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project, what it would have meant to that area, what it would have meant to Charles, we got an opportunity to see what his plan was,\u201d DiPietro said. \u201cThe Coliseum was such a special place. To drive in and see people tailgating, it was something that was special for the players, to know that your fans cared as much as our fans cared. I remember we were doing the megaphones, Vote yes,\u2019 and all that stuff. And it was something that we thought was going to happen and we were excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Epilogue \"A<\/p>\n

A plaque in honor of Charles Wang at UBS Arena. Credit: Newsday\/Andrew Gross<\/p>\n

Wang agreed to sell majority ownership in the Islanders to Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky in September 2014 with the team valued at approximately $485 million. The transfer in ownership was formally approved by the NHL in June\u00a02016 with Wang retaining a 15% stake as minority owner.<\/p>\n

Wang died\u00a0at age 74 on Oct. 21, 2018<\/a> after battling lung cancer.\u00a0Malkin and Ledecky have frequently credited Wang\u2019s role in the building of UBS Arena and keeping the team on Long Island.<\/p>\n

There is a plaque honoring Wang\u2019s life and tenure as the Islanders\u2019 owner on the main concourse at UBS Arena that attests to that. The final paragraph reads, \u201cIt is thanks to Charles Wang that the New York Islanders are able to stay in New York, where they belong. UBS Arena at Belmont Park would not exist without his remarkable vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

UBS Arena is not Wang\u2019s originally-intended Lighthouse Project. But, through all the twists and turns, the Islanders finally found a permanent home that greatly expanded their ability to generate revenue.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John\u2019s and MLB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What was the Lighthouse Project? Former Islanders owner Charles Wang had a grand but ultimately unsuccessful plan to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,122,16722,48343,3328,159,5190,5189,4,58221],"class_list":{"0":"post-547090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-islanders","10":"tag-local-politics","11":"tag-nassau","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-islanders","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkislanders","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-spnostalgia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116368340442844253","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}