Belmont Park Village retail tenancy only at 25%, about 18 months after construction finished

On a recent Sunday, Laura Williams, of Valley Stream, was among dozens of shoppers browsing the boutiques at Belmont Park Village, as others gravitated to the restaurants or passed time playing chess or checkers on tables placed around the walkways at the Elmont property.

"It’s nice," said Williams, 55, who visited the shopping center with her husband, Keith, and their two daughters.

"It’s close to home, five minutes," she said, adding her family likes to stroll along the rows of stores, perhaps get lunch, and visit Lululemon, one of her daughter’s favorite stores.

But, Williams said, "I wish it had a little more stores, maybe affordable stores."

Located on former parking lots on the southern side of Hempstead Turnpike, the retail village is part of the $2 billion redevelopment of 43 acres, or 10%, of Belmont Park aimed at turning the site into a shopping, entertainment and hospitality destination. The project included the construction of UBS Arena, home of the New York Islanders, and the Elmont-UBS Arena LIRR Station within the past five years.

A 250-room hotel also is planned.

Construction at the retail village, which has off-price luxury boutiques, was completed in two phases about a year and a half ago. The developer, Value Retail, plans to bring 155 mostly European boutiques and seven restaurants to the site, but only about 40, or 25%, of the tenants have opened so far. 

Value Retail, a London-based company founded by New York Islanders’ co-owner Scott Malkin, said tenant leasing at the 340,000 square feet of retail space is on track. 

Jason Katz, chief commercial officer at Value Retail, said, "Leasing is going well," adding the company does it on a rolling basis. "So even from where we began to now, we’re very happy with the number of openings," he said.

Value Retail did not give a time frame on when the retail village will be fully occupied.

But some local stakeholders say the shopping village's focus on drawing more wealthy, international tourists is pricing out residents from neighboring communities.

Bob Barker, president of the Locustwood/Gotham Civic Association, which covers Elmont, said affordability is a concern, with a high-end shopping village placed in a hamlet that is not wealthy.

"Judging from what I heard, local residents are priced out," said Barker, who is also a member of the Belmont Community Advisory Committee, a group of local elected officials and residents formed in 2018 to give input on the development.

Elmont Chamber of Commerce president Julie Marchesella also echoed that sentiment.

"I think it’s more people that will be brought in from the airport, local hotels, the city. I don’t think it’s going to be in a price range for our local people and community," she said.

Barker hopes that discounts or other incentives will be offered to draw more local residents to the village.

The Belmont Park redevelopment was pitched as an economic driver for the state, which owns the land, as well as for Nassau County, Hempstead, school districts and other entities. But the full economic impact of the development is yet to be realized because the retail village is not fully occupied and the hotel has not been built.

Value Retail’s strategy of phased-in openings of luxury stores is common among retail landlords because high-end “retail is a herd mentality,” said Charles Cristella, a national retail leasing managing director based in real estate firm JLL’s Cherry Hill, New Jersey, office.

“The first thing they do is bring in the luxury retailer who is not represented and is willing to do a deal in that market. And then they go out and they take those sales and they say [to other potential tenants], ‘See? Your customer is here,’” said Cristella, adding that future tourism and special events at Belmont Park Village will boost its pull.

The retail village is strategically located in Elmont, a hamlet in the northwestern section of the Town of Hempstead that also borders Queens. The shopping center is also close to Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in Queens, potentially making it a tourist destination.

With its population of 37,362, Elmont is not a wealthy area, and neither are its surrounding communities, U.S. Census Bureau data shows.

Value Retail declined to disclose demographics about its shoppers, including median age, household income, or county or country of residence.

But Katz said the development’s target audience is those who are fashionable and "globally minded," whether they are from Long Island or abroad. 

Phased-out retail openings

Located at 2601 Hempstead Tpke., Belmont Park is Value Retail’s first U.S. village — and 12th overall — in The Bicester Collection, the company's group of luxury boutique villages that are part of sports, hospitality and entertainment developments. The company has nine retail villages in Europe and two in China.

Phase 1 of Belmont Park, which was finished in September 2024, has space for 90 retailers.

Among the approximately 40 tenants that have opened in that phase include clothing shops Allsaints, Roberto Cavalli and Valentino; shoe stores Aquazzura and Gianvito Rossi; handbag and other accessories stores Coach and Longchamp; and jewelry and home goods retailer Swarovski.

Among the 20 retailers that have recently committed to opening shops are clothing and accessories stores Rag & Bone, Roller Rabbit and Zadig & Voltaire, which will open this year, Value Retail said.

Katz said he expects all 90 tenants in phase 1 to be open in 2027. 

Phase 2 of the retail village was completed in November 2024, with space for about 65 retailers that will likely start opening in 2027, he said.

Another reason for the lower-than-normal occupancy is that Belmont Park Village's construction schedule differed from the norm, Value Retail said.

At the company's 11 other villages, construction has been phased in over a longer time, typically several years, and normally requires securing a site twice the size of the construction area, Value Retail said. But due to the space constraints of the smaller Belmont Park site, that wasn't possible, the company said.

So both phases were built around the same time, the company said, adding that the phase 2 section is still blocked off from shoppers entering. 

The Belmont Park redevelopment plan also calls for the construction of a 250-room, 210,000-square-foot hotel, with dining, conference and event space.

A timeline for the hotel's construction hasn't been determined yet, a spokesman for Empire State Development, the state's economic development agency, said Wednesday.

Although the retail village is far from full occupancy, patrons spend an average amount comparable with that of Value Retail’s top two-performing villages — in Bicester Village in England and La Vallée Village in France, according to Value Retail, which declined to disclose sales numbers.

Bicester Village in London generates high sales per square foot, $4,500, which Belmont Park Village should be able to achieve, Malkin told WWD in December. 

Belmont Park is not the only upscale retail center on Long Island. 

Others include Americana Manhasset, a shopping center about 9 miles away, and Roosevelt Field mall in Uniondale, about 8 miles from Belmont Park. 

But Belmont Park Village isn’t pulling shoppers from those sites, Katz said.

"We speak to our brand partners on a regular basis, and they’ve been telling us that there is not cannibalization. We also have a number of sources of data that are actually explaining that, as well," Katz said.

Belmont Park Village, though, has unique assets, including its proximity to an arena and horse racetrack, Katz said.

"The only other two [retail villages] that would be somewhat comparable would be in Paris and Shanghai, where we’re partners with Disney. But it’s not the same level of connection we have here at Belmont Park," he said.

Separate from the retail, hotel and arena projects, the New York Racing Association is modernizing thoroughbred racing facilities at Belmont Park. The work includes the replacement of the 1.25 million-square-foot grandstand with a state-of-the art facility of about 275,000 square feet that will reopen Sept. 18, said Patrick McKenna, spokesman for the racing association.

The annual Belmont Stakes moved to the Saratoga Race Course in 2024 because of the construction work, but it will return in June 2027, he said. 

The racing project is being financed with a $455 million loan from the state.

Retail village's economic impact

Value Retail, through an affiliate, BPV Retail Holdings LLC, is ground-leasing the retail portion of Belmont Park from Empire State Development.

The redevelopment included the construction of the 19,000-seat UBS Arena, the Elmont-UBS Arena LIRR Station and a 1,500-space parking garage. 

New York Arena Partners, a group formed by Oak View Group, the New York Islanders and Jeff Wilpon, of Sterling Project Development, was the lead on the development of UBS Arena and is ground leasing the property from Empire State Development.

Manhattan-based Sterling Project Development did not respond to requests for comment.

Denver-based Oak View Group, an operator of entertainment venues, referred media inquiries to Value Retail.

When Belmont Park redevelopment is finished, the mostly privately financed work is projected to generate $44 million annually in revenue for Nassau, the Town of Hempstead, the state and the MTA, which operates the Long Island Rail Road, through taxes on sales, admission, hotel bookings and other sources, according to a 2019 economic analysis report commissioned by Empire State Development. 

Under an agreement with the state agency, New York Arena Partners also is paying impact fees of an estimated $272 million over 49 years to several entities, including the Elmont Union Free School District and Sewanhaka Central High School District, the Elmont Fire District, Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead, according to the report. Impact fees help cover the costs of expanding public services, such as roads, water systems and other infrastructure changes.

The Elmont school district started receiving $1 million annually in 2020, Superintendent of Schools Marlon Small said in an emailed statement Thursday.

"This long-term, predictable funding provides financial stability. It allows the district to plan responsibly, offset the tax levy to protect taxpayers, and maintain strong educational programs at the same time," he said. The school district's 2025-26 budget is $115.2 million.

Asked about the potential economic impact of the Belmont Park project on the town, Hempstead representatives directed media inquiries to Empire State Development.

Empire State Development is pleased with the public-private partnership behind the redevelopment, spokesman Patrick McGovern said in a statement Friday.

The retail village is growing “in both tenants and visitors and remains a key part of the broader transformation of Belmont Park,” he said. That, combined with the horseracing grandstand, will “deliver lasting benefits for Long Island and the entire region,” he added.

Nassau County spokesman Christopher Boyle did not respond to requests for comment.

When the Belmont Park redevelopment is done, the site will employ 2,455 people earning a total of $94 million annually, including 618 at the arena, 1,148 at the retail village and 689 in hotel, office and other jobs, New York Arena Partners has projected. 

Village seen as an incubator for brands

Value Retail’s 12 shopping villages are seen as incubators, or test sites, for brands to introduce their products to consumers.

Pop-ups, such as Lululemon, which opened March 27, at Belmont Park Village, are often part of that equation, Katz said.

About 75% of shoppers are first-time buyers of the brands at the retail villages, but then they go on to become longer-term customers, he said.

"So, the brands, when they see us opening here in the U.S. market, it’s really a great channel for growth," he said.

Belmont Village also sets itself apart by offering premium services at no cost, such as hands-free shopping, with a concierge picking up customers' bags in any of the boutiques, taking the purchases to their cars or delivering them to the UBS Arena, Katz said. 

The shopping experience also includes a free shuttle between the village South Entrance and the Elmont-UBS Arena LIRR station, as well as an "apartment" where guests can lounge in between shopping.

But stores like Lululemon are a major draw for shoppers, they said.

Robert Hornik, of Syosset, who visited recently, said he liked the layout of the retail village.

"It kind of reminds me of Woodbury Commons [Premium Outlets] upstate a little bit. ... We’ll definitely come back once it’s open more," said Hornik, 30, who bought a sweatshirt from Lululemon.