A New York Racing Association (NYRA) executive confirmed on Friday that the massive-scaled, $455-million rebuild of Belmont Park is on schedule for its planned grand opening in the fall of 2026.
Glen Kozak, NYRA's senior vice president of operations and capital projects, provided a construction update during the Jan. 31 meeting of the New York State Franchise Oversight Board (FOB), which is the governor-appointed entity that represents the interests of New York State in the real estate at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course.
“At this point 95 [to] 98% percent of the demolition and crushing is complete on the [old] building,” Kozak said. “They're going right now with the excavation [for] the basement of the entire new facility. Half of the concrete has been poured for the western portion of the facility. [There are] two simultaneous contractors that are working, one doing the [civil site work], another one doing the concrete that will be [the] superstructure here.
“What helped us was that one contractor was very familiar with the property doing all the [civil site] work for the arena and also the retail village on the state property here, so they hit the ground running and really got a good jump start on the project,” Kozak said.
Despite some recent cold weather, Kozak explained, “because of the soils that we're working on over here, the contractors have been able to continue with the work that's required here. The two contractors positioned us very well for where we're at this point, so we're on track schedule-wise, for sure,” Kozak said.
“If you're looking at the site, half the deck is already going in for the first floor, [and] they're working from west to east at high level. We're looking to get the deck, the concrete, and the structural steel done by this fall to [the fourth quarter of 2025] to try and get this thing dried-in” by the first quarter of 2026, Kozak said.
“The next big milestone for us is with the crushing complete and a bunch of the utility work that's already been in place, is using that crushing to set up a tracking pad for the crawler crane that will be positioned here. That's going to be a substantial piece of equipment that'll be here for quite some time to be able to set all the steel for this building,” Kozak said.
“As far as the contracts that have been awarded, I believe it's right around 65% of the contracts that have been awarded for the works,” Kozak said.
Kozak said that obtaining industrial items that take a relatively long lead time to procure, like boilers, chillers, escalators and elevators, plus steel for the superstructure, are also proceeding according to schedule.
“The other big-ticket item is the curtain wall for the glass enclosure,” Kozak said. “Because as you all are all aware, we are on a tight timeline for this [to] stay on track.
“The other two [big] items are the roof and the generator,” Kozak said. “A generator lead time for this size facility is trending almost a year's time out. So those are the big components that are being procured right now.”
Kozak said the jobs to be contracted for interior items like paint, drywall and finish work are still in “active” negotiations.
The target date for completion of all Belmont Park construction is Sept. 11, 2026. This would dovetail with the conclusion of that year's Saratoga season, making fall 2026 the first full race meet at the new facility.
NYRA, however, is keeping open the option of running the 2026 GI Belmont Stakes back downstate at the new facility instead of at Saratoga like in 2024 and 2025. If the race does get moved from its temporary home in Saratoga in 2026, it would be under a festival-meet scenario in which all four Belmont racing surfaces (dirt, synthetic, two grass courses) would be ready, but the grandstand and clubhouse might not be fully finished.
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