In its heyday, the Nassau Coliseum was the height of Long Island cool, a must-stop for major artists on tour.
But over time, the Coliseum became as crumbled and out of favor as its ancient namesake, the Colosseum in Rome.
Its seats were frayed, the food was lame, and the bathrooms were scarce and barely functional. Patrons abandoned their once-favorite concert hall en masse.
Now all of that is about to change.
The folks behind Barclays Center are in the midst of a $130 million renovation that they say will put the Coliseum back on the map for the world’s top artists.
“Anyone who is anyone performing at Barclays Center will also be performing on Long Island,” vowed developer Bruce Ratner of Forest City Ratner Companies, who is revamping the site with Mikhail Prokhorov’s American Holdings.
On Tuesday, the media — and some deep-pocketed ticket-holders — got a private walk-through of the arena to see the improvements first-hand.
“I went to my first concert here when I was 14 years old — it was Shaun Cassidy,” said Maryann Campanelli of Plainview, who along with her husband Joe were among the new Coliseum’s first ticket-holders, dishing out a total of about $32,000 for four seats to every event there for 12 months.
“To me, this means we’re going to bring some economy back here, we’re going to bring some people here to see what Long Island has to offer,” said Campanelli, who owns three businesses, including a landscaping company, with her husband.
The plan for the arena is to keep the bones of the old stadium but wrap its outside in fancy metal to give it shiny new curb appeal.
Inside, the seats will be made comfier, and there will be more room to walk around, additional bathrooms and fancier green rooms so the artists — who could be there for days or weeks at a time — feel more “at home,” officials said.
The food also will be better, and staff will be trained by Disney hospitality experts to be more efficient and nicer.
It’s all part of a $260 million, 77-acre Coliseum Plaza development, which will include new shops, restaurants a movie theater and a nightclub.
To help offset the massive project’s cost, several companies are coughing up an undisclosed amount of cash for naming rights. The stadium’s official new name is the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum presented by New York Community Bank.
Billy Joel, the native prince of Long Island, will break in the stadium with a performance April 5, 2017, similar to the way Jay-Z opened Barclays Center.
“The Long Island market is very dynamic, but it had been underserved in the area of entertainment,’’ said Brett Yormark, CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, which is overseeing operations and events at the new Coliseum. “The Coliseum had become an older, antiquated building, and it needed work.
“Our goal is to restore it in every way, from the architecture to making it a great experience for fans.
“We are utilizing our best practices from Barclays Center to bring a world-class venue back to Long Island,” he said. “We’re on track and on time, and I’m excited about our progress so far.”
The Coliseum hopes to draw a large crowd from music-loving Barclays’ patrons on days when the Brooklyn venue is booked with sports teams.
Barclays typically doesn’t schedule concerts from April through June because of their commitments to the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Islanders. The hockey team used to play at the Coliseum.
Nassau will be a concert venue with some basketball — the Brooklyn Nets’ D-League team, the Long Island Nets — college sports and family shows, officials said.
“The Coliseum used to be a major stop on an artist’s tour. Now, we’re bringing them back, from Stevie Nicks to Bruno Mars,” Yormark said.
The building itself will also be stunning to look at.
SHoP Architects, which created Barclays Center, is wrapping the building in “vertical brushed aluminum fins” that will reflect light differently throughout the day and look like the waves, sand dunes and beach grass of the Long Island shore.
The aluminum wrap is also a nod to the area’s aviation history.
Just like the steel at Barclays, which is evocative of Brooklyn’s industrial era, the aluminum is “a critical element of the design,” Ratner said.
“The aluminum also harks back to what the area used to be when it was a hub of aviation,” he said.
The Coliseum will re-open 75 years after the first trans-Atlantic flight took off across the street in a plane made out of the same shiny aluminum material.
Inside, seating has been cut from 17,000 seats to around 14,500 seats to give customers more room inside the 416,000-square-foot arena, which has been painted black on the exterior to better highlight the aluminum. The exterior will also be illuminated at night.
The new Coliseum will have capacities for 13,000 for hockey games, 13,500 for basketball games and 14,500-plus for concerts, along with a theater-seating option for 4000 guests.
The venue has also upped its foodie game.
“Just like at Barclays, we will be using local sourcing to bring people the best food of Long Island,” Ratner said.
Luxury suites will also be renovated, and there will be a new box office.
Folks can buy a Long Island All Access Pass, an annual season-ticket membership, which includes tickets in the lower bowl to every event, from concerts to sports and family shows along with VIP entrance and club access, along with presale opportunities to buy additional tickets.
The new Coliseum is also catering to the players and performers, with new state-of-the-art team locker rooms and artist green rooms and suites.
Artists will be able to choose the look and feel of their dressing room areas, known as the Artist Quarters. The choices are: Manhattan Modern, Gatsby’s Gold Coast, The Polo Club and Hampton Chic. What isn’t in use will be stored in a very large basement area.
“Our goal is to make the artists feel at home,” Yormark said.
The area will include a fireplace, a professional make-up area, a spa-like bathroom, “inspiring” art, a gym and refreshment area with cardio, free weights and yoga equipment and an artist living room with a dining area, lounge, kitchen and gaming area. Finally there will be a “promoter’s lounge” for industry folks to entertain.
The Campanellis’ son, John, who was with them for Tuesday’s tour, said, “It’s great to be here to witness a piece of history being rebuilt.
“This has been a part of the history for Long Island for years, and it gets to live on.”
Additional reporting by Shari Logan