Midway Crossing - the $2.8 billion project that will connect Long Island MacArthur Airport and the LIRR Ronkonkoma Station by an 1,800-foot pedestrian walkway with a massive commercial cluster in between that would include a convention center, indoor/outdoor entertainment venues, retail space, hotel, and a life sciences complex - got a boost from an unlikely source, former Islanders hockey player and Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine.
“I think the ability to grow and the ability to have all this cluster here is great, and if you go one more stop on the train you are at Brookhaven National Laboratory,” LaFontaine is quoted as saying in a recent Commercial Observer article about the project.
The hockey star is an advisor with Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a commercial real estate company that is serving as master developer of the project in a public/[private partnership with Suffolk County and the Town of Islip.
That is if it ever gets off the ground.
According to an article on the Foggiest Idea website, the project is hinged on the Town of Islip working with New York State and federal agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration “to secure significant investment dollars to fund the creation of a new northern terminal at Long Island MacArthur Airport before the project could actually take off.”
A centerpiece of the Midway Crossing is the life sciences hub that will incorporate medical research and health care along with STEM education.
The Long Island Regional Planning Council gave the project its blessing recently. According to a story in constructionreviewonline.com, Midway Crossing is expected to have more than $4.5 billion in annual economic impact and create over 9,000 jobs, with 4,000 in the STEM and healthcare sectors.