Hempstead’s town board approved a site plan on Tuesday for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to build a $140 million outpatient treatment and research facility at the Nassau Coliseum site in Uniondale. (Credit: Memorial Sloan Kettering)
Hempstead Town Board members approved a site plan Tuesday for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to build a $140 million outpatient treatment and research facility at Mitchel Field as part of the Nassau Coliseum project.

Town officials said the site plan and environmental review cleared the final hurdles for construction on the 140,000-square-foot medical building at the Nassau Coliseum off Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.

The cancer treatment center is to be built on the southwest portion of the Coliseum property and includes a 452-space, 134,000-square-foot parking garage. Nassau County sold the 5-acre parcel to Sloan Kettering for $6.5 million last year.

“This project will address areas of genuine medical need in our area, and also support good jobs for our residents,” Hempstead Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby said in a statement. “I am happy to see this progressive project more forward.”

Town Board members had to approve Sloan Kettering’s site plan under the Mitchel Field Master Plan for the entire project, which includes Coliseum renovations. The approval covers the footprint and height of the cancer center and
where buildings sit in relation to each other on the property.

Hempstead Building Department officials still have to approve specific architectural details and construction plans before work begins. Board members voted to approve the environmental review with the state’s Environmental Quality Review Act for air quality, traffic, noise and water quality that are not expected to be affected by the development.

Goosby and Hempstead Supervisor Anthony Santino said the medical center fits with Hofstra University’s medical school, which is adjacent to the property, and several nursing facilities nearby.

Town Board members approved a building construction zone and master plan after previous plans to renovate the Coliseum failed.

The Mitchel Field Mixed Use District master plan covers gutting and renovating the Coliseum with 15,000 seats, as well as proposed hotels, a convention center, health and technology facilities, business offices and education centers.