Charles Wang Pitches the Lighthouse
Charles Wang visited LIMBA on the 16th with his Roadshow for the Lighthouse on Long Island. Introduced by LIMBA board member and former Suffolk County Exec Bob Gaffney, Mr. Wang presented a very nicely produced DVD describing the project. The arc of the presentation covered the decline of the Coliseum as an event venue, which led to the development of a plan for that area, and his subsequent partnering with Reckson Associates to integrate his plans with the surrounding area. The vision for the project is a mixed use developement focused on sports. As an avid amateur hockey player, my favorite part was the plan for a 4 rink complex. The development's emphasis was on the creation of a sports technology center, and the creation of a round-the-clock destination and community to replace the acres of cracked, wind-swept asphalt that presently exists. One of Mr. Wang's stated goals for the development is the creation of an icon for Long Island, a signature property. The centerpiece for that has been the 60 story tower called the Lighthouse, which has become a lightning rod for critics.
Today, Newsday reports that Mr. Wang has removed the lighthouse from the development, which in my opinion is a sad commentary on the lack of vision of Long Islanders and their political leaders. The design was distinctive, and certainly would have been iconic. As a technologist, the loss of a 60 story high tower in the middle of Nassau County from which to broadcast new wireless protocols and content is just yet another self-inflicted wound on the economic future of the region. One of the great things about Mr. Wang's development is the vision for Long Island. The attitudes that killed the lighthouse are leading to just more of the same strip commercial development and overgrowth of single-family homes at insane prices that will kill the economy here. More of the same hasn't worked for the last twenty years, and will just lead us further down the dead end. The tower was supposed to hold a 5 star hotel and a high-end apartment complex, with the development in total providing about 1700 units of new housing. There was also mention about some of those units being workforce, or affordable housing if some kind of rail or light rail link was built to mass transit.
Since Mr. Wang pitched the proposal there was a hue and cry for a competitive RFP process, which the deadline for recently passed. At first blush, the only proposal that comes close to the Wang/Reckson proposal is the New York Mets Development Corp proposal that Emi Endo of Newsday describes here.
In a way, I owe Mr. Wang a debt of gratitude for helping me start my own business. Like the actor that always wanted to direct, I was a support guy that always wanted to be a programmer. Back in '97, I was shopping for a job, and CA offered me one working on Unicenter TNG. At the time I was a consultant for the late, lamented Digital Equipment Corporation, and placed at Reuters out in Hauppauge. When I told the client that I was going to quit, he blew a gasket and told the sales reps that he'd never buy any more consulting services from DEC if they let me leave. Since I wanted to be a programmer, the only thing that they could do was put some golden handcuffs on me and they made me a consultant! Thus began my self-employment. On one of my interview trips, I was on my way out of the building, waiting for a slow security gate to open, when Mr. Wang appeared, with several staff in tow. I quipped to him, "Maybe the boss can let me out", and he growled back at me, "The boss'll throw you out!" I smiled, but got more of a chuckle from the looks of the staff surrounding him at my audacity at having spoken. I'm a New York Ranger fan, but I still like Mr. Wang, for his entreprenurial zeal, plainspeaking ways, and vision for the future.
