Just weeks after consummating the $195 million deal to purchase the New York Islanders hockey team, New York Sports Ventures principals Howard Milstein and Steve Gluckstern are reportedly close to finalizing an agreement with Nassau County in regard to building a new arena for the team.

The agreement in principal, essentially a gentleman's agreement at this point between County Executive Thomas S. Gulotta and Milstein, reportedly involves a three-stage development proposal for the 70-acre parcel dubbed "Nassau Central" by the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Privatization Committee.

According to sources close to the situation, Milstein's preliminary suggestion was to build a new coliseum first, a restaurant and entertainment center second, and then, if it appears the market for them is sufficient, a new hotel and convention center.

These sources also said that phase one and phase two of the development, the coliseum and the retail and restaurant center, will likely be developed fairly closely together, as "certain elements of the project will obviously help pay for certain other elements."

Over the past month, the principals of New York Sports Ventures have met on at least two occasions face-to-face with the county executive's point man on the project, attorney Mort Certilman.

One of those meetings took place in Boca Raton, Florida, where Certilman vacations, and another took place two weeks ago Wednesday.

Following that second meeting with Certilman, Milstein met with the coliseum privatization committee to provide them with his vision of the future.

"Basically, he just outlined for us his concepts of what he would like to see regarding the future of the coliseum site," Certilman told this newspaper.

While declining to discuss any of the specifics of the Milstein plan, Certilman said, "Just know that we absolutely are working on this thing."

"Bear in mind though," he added, "that this project, to my mind, is the most significant project to be undertaken here on the Island since the development of Levittown 50 years ago.

"That being the case, we can't move except at a very deliberate pace so that we can be sure that what is ultimately developed will be of benefit to the county."

Though a news conference to announce the development plan for the coliseum was anticipated for this week, certain specific elements of the planned construction of a new coliseum still had to be worked out as this newspaper went to press and the news conference had to be postponed.

"What happens in these kind of situations," said another source close to the situation, speaking on background, "is that an agreement is made and then the staff work begins. And of course when the staff work begins we get down to the finite questions."

While many of those questions involve specifics about the coliseum itself, Nassau's County Comptroller, Fred Parola, still has a few questions of his own about the project.

"I think the biggest question is, 'Who's going to pay for it all?" Parola said last week. "I'm sure that Milstein, having already paid $195 million for the hockey team, doesn't now want to pay the estimated $180 to $300 million it's going to take to bring this development to fruition.

"The state, thus far, has only committed $30 million to the project, so you really have to ask, 'Where's the rest of the money going to come from?'" Parola continued. "Bonding? I'm not so sure the state is going to be willing to issue something like $200 million in bonds.

"But that, above all else, is the tough question, 'Who's going to back this financially?' The difficulty for us in county government is, we want to keep tight fiscal control over the development, but at the same time, we don't want to scare them away."

In addition to the complementary construction of a restaurant and retail complex adjacent to a new coliseum, one of the money-making options currently being batted about in some quarters is the possible inclusion of a new heavy rail link, either by the Long Island Rail Road or Amtrak, directly into the hub utilizing the tracks already stretching into Mitchel Park and being used solely for freight use at this time.

Presently, Amtrak doesn't serve Long Island, the LIRR having jurisdiction over both Nassau and Suffolk Counties. However, the precedent for some kind of Amtrak involvement in the Hub has already been set.

To begin with, it is Amtrak that delivers the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus to the Nassau Coliseum each year, picking the circus train up in New Jersey and transporting it over tracks owned and operated by the local railroad.

In addition, and particularly pertinent in light of both the construction of sports facilities for the upcoming Goodwill Games and the future development of the coliseum, is the fact that Amtrak already operates a sports charter division.

While conceding that he hasn't heard anything about an Amtrak connection in Nassau County, Rick Remington, a Philadelphia-based Amtrak spokesman said that a special sports charter was run by the rail line this past summer, connecting Albany, New York to Shea Stadium in Queens.

"This was the first time we ever did that particular connection," he explained. "What we did was run on Amtrak lines to Penn Station, and then LIRR lines to Shea."

Sources here in Nassau describe the Amtrak scenario as "as good as any guesstimate that's out there" regarding how a new potential customer base can be drawn to and transported into the central Nassau Hub.

"What it really is all going to come down to is what assets already in place can you put to the best use," this source said.

In some cases, the first proposals regarding assests already in place and assets that need to be constructed, remain controversial. Among them, the possible construction of a new LIRR station in Carle Place, and the implementation of a monorail along Hempstead Turnpike leading into Hempstead and West Hempstead.

"There has been a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding regarding those proposals," Mort Certilman said last week.

"The facts are, we have not decided that the proposed new Carle Place train station is going to be the connection to the Hub," he said.

"That decision is going to be taken up at an upcoming meeting of the transportation subcommittee of the coliseum privatization committee.

"Once that determination is made, we'll put the information out there for the public, and then we'll also have to talk to the railroad to tell them which way we think we should proceed. Then, of course, we'll have to secure the funding."

While he says that the proposal to construct a new railroad station in Carle Place is still only theoretical, Certilman admitted that the privatization committee considers the alternatives to that proposal ¬ connecting the Hub to either the Mineola or the existing Carle Place train station ¬ inferior.

"The reason being, you can't do those connections without going through residential neighborhoods," he explained.

"If we made the existing Carle Place train station the connection to the people-mover, for instance, we'd have to run some kind of light rail or overhead rail right through where people now live. That is not something that we would prefer to do.

"Given our druthers, it seems to us as planners that this new station would be best," he continued. "It has direct access to the Meadowbrook Parkway. It has direct access to the Hub itself. There would be no residential intrusion. And we would not be drawing any additional traffic into the area, because an existing exit ramp from the parkway would direct traffic directly into the station, where commuters could park and then get on the people-mover.

"At the same time, that location would also afford us the opportunity to put an overhead rail line right over the Meadowbrook Parkway. So there is no conceivable reason, other than getting the funding, that gives us a better alternative."

Certilman added, "When I hear people say, 'We don't want that new thing,' what troubles me is, I haven't heard a reason why. I mean, we won't make a decision without listening to people. But what we want to hear from the public is not, 'I don't want,' but 'I don't want because... ' or 'I want, because... '

"It the same thing with the proposal to run an elevated track along Hempstead Turnpike. Many people, including the Nassau Master Plan Taskforce headed by Neal Lewis, are saying outrageous things about this. The fact is, right now, we don't know the answer to the elevated track issue along Hempstead Turnpike. We're simply looking at all of the alternatives that are out there.

"The bottom line though is, I think once we explain to them our reasoning behind preferring this new Carle Place train station or any other aspect of the proposal, they'll want it too," Certilman said.