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An ice hockey rink complex with two full-size sheets could soon rise on the former Brookhaven Campus of Dowling College in Shirley, transforming a largely dormant campus into what could become a new regional sports hub.
Hampshire Venture Partners plans to build the rink and a 596,000-square-foot warehouse on the 105-acre site off William Floyd Parkway, where Dowling once operated its aeronautics school before the college declared bankruptcy and closed in 2016 amid mounting debt and declining enrollment.
The property has seen little use ever since.
The Brookhaven Town Board has scheduled a planning board public hearing regarding the proposed complex for March 26 at 3 p.m. It will take place in the second floor auditorium at 1 Independence Hill in Farmingville. The hearing, where members of the public will have the opportunity to speak, will also be streamed live at brookhavenny.gov/meetings.
Filed by Hampshire Venture Partners, LLC — which purchased the property several years ago — the proposed project seeks site plan approval with variances to construct the proposed hockey rink complex at the southeast corner of William Floyd Parkway and Flower Hill Drive. Plans submitted to the town show a large indoor facility featuring two ice rinks, locker rooms, bleacher seating, concessions and support space, along with surrounding parking and internal roadways.
The 105-acre property still contains athletic fields and several former campus buildings, including a dormitory that closed in 2013.
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico previously told Newsday that Hampshire would also refurbish the former athletic fields and that the rink and ballfields would be donated to the town as a public park. The town would hire a separate company to manage the park, Panico said.
Top: Artist rendering of the hockey rink facility proposed in Shirley (Brookhaven Town).
