F
ormer New York Islanders center Pat LaFontaine and his business partner Steve D’Iorio are suing current and former JLL executives over unpaid work on the $2.8 billion Midway Crossing project in Ronkonkoma. The duo claims they are owed nearly $2.5 million after Michael Shenot, who recently left JLL, and JLL’s Derek Trulson stopped communicating with them, leaving the project in limbo. R5 Partners LLC, which included the four men, was tasked by JLL with spearheading the project at the site of the MacArthur Airport.

    LaFontaine and D’Iorio allege they spent three years working to round up investors and tenants for the project’s first phase. However, local opposition led developers to remove indoor and outdoor arenas from the plans, causing a fissure in the project. The plaintiffs claim Trulson and Shenot have since refused to move forward as developers for the project and have gone radio silent.

    The project, located in Suffolk County and Islip Town, cleared a significant hurdle at the start of the year when the Federal Aviation Administration determined Midway Crossing would not affect airport operations.

    LaFontaine and D’Iorio want to sit down with Trulson and Shenot to discuss how the development can proceed. They’ve asked them a hundred times to get in a room and discuss what the disagreement is, but they’re still unsure about what’s going on at Trulson and Shenot’s side of the table.

    The development calls for a convention center, a 300-room hotel, and health sciences facilities. It is expected to take 10 to 15 years to complete. LaFontaine’s 1.17 points per game ranks first all-time among American-born NHL players. He played for the Islanders from 1983 to 1991 and then the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers, retiring in 1998.