If you build it, they will come.
That’s what Raymond Los, the entrepreneur behind the lifestyle brand Hamptonites, has in mind when it comes to his latest idea.
Mr. Los, a Sag Harbor native who has lived in Riverhead for the last 13 years, envisions a sports and entertainment arena for the Hamptons—a 300,000-square-foot, 10,000-seat arena that would serve as the East End’s version of the Nassau Coliseum.
The vision, Mr. Los said, came after hearing from many people that they often miss out on sporting events and concerts because they don’t want to make the 70-plus-mile drive to the Coliseum in Hempstead, travel on the Long Island Rail Road to Madison Square Garden, or hop on a ferry to Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
“It’s about giving the local people a place to be able to go: something for the families, for date night,” Mr. Los said. “There’s nothing here. There’s nothing to do. You can go to the movies so many times. You can go to the bar so many times.”
Mr. Los said that although he has no blueprints drawn up or any location picked out for what he has dubbed the Hamptonites Arena, he pictures it taking up roughly 30 acres of oceanfront property, ideally somewhere between East Hampton and Montauk. From his own personal projections, he predicts that the arena would cost as much as $50 million to build, funded by private investors, and replicate the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Los said the venue would not only bring big names in entertainment to perform on the South Fork, but also give the Hamptons the opportunity to host privately owned, local professional sports teams—he pictures the East Hampton Hammer Heads hockey team, the Southampton Blue Crush football team, the Montauk Sun Devils basketball team, and the Bridgehampton Stallions soccer team—all of which would be funded by private investors.
The Hamptonites Arena would boost the local economy as well, according to Mr. Los. He predicts millions of dollars yearly in tax revenue for East Hampton or Southampton town, as well as Suffolk County, plus the creation of more than 6,000 jobs ranging from arena staff and security to year-round maintenance for the venue’s grounds and electrical services. Local merchants such as the Golden Pear and Hampton Coffee Company would have first dibs on vending spots, he said, as would local sporting goods stores, allowing them to expand their businesses.
Additionally, Mr. Los also said he hopes to bring a restaurant like Planet Hollywood or the Hard Rock Cafe to the Hamptonites Arena.
Mr. Los said he plans to present his idea to the Southampton and East Hampton town boards in the near future. Recently, he launched a website for the arena as a way to get feedback from the public before he goes to officials.
He acknowledges that the idea is an ambitious one, but he said he believes it could gain momentum.
“I know that I’m going to run into a lot of red tape,” he said. “But at the end of the day, if everyone sits and thinks of the positives … I would hope that they set their negativity aside of the most basic, common concern.”
That concern is traffic and parking, according to Mr. Los. He said he would work with town officials to come up with a way to create a smooth traffic flow for those driving to and from the arena. As for parking, he said the venue would have its own lot large enough so that drivers would not be parking on the street.
Mr. Los believes his vision could come to fruition within the next few years.
“It can happen with the right brain action. With alike mindsets, this can happen if everyone is united, and if they make their decisions based on the positive outcome of this arena being built,” he said. “At the end of the day, this is for the people, by the people.”
on Jan 27, 2015