Wall Street Journal Reports On Roosevelt Island Main Street Master Leaseholder Proposals - Hudson/Related Wants To Upgrade All Of Main Street Retail, Rivercross Co-op Wants To Protect Their Own Building
Main Street Image From Jones Lang LaSalle
As reported in this earlier post, Hudson/Related Companies, the development partnership behind Roosevelt Island's Riverwalk Buildings in Southtown, was confirmed to be one of two bidders replying to the Main Street Retail Master Leaseholder RFP and the Rivercross Mitchell-Lama Co-Op was speculated to be the other bidder - but just for the space in it's building.The Wall Street Journal New York Edition picks up the story today, notes that free enterprise may finally be finding it's way to Roosevelt Island and also reports that Hudson/Related and the Rivercross Co-op are the only bidders for some or all of the approximately 90,000 square feet of Main Street retail space . According to the WSJ:
... "We envision a dynamic vibrant retail corridor occupied by neighborhood retailers that's well designed and is very successful," says David Kramer, principal of Hudson Cos. "You have a captive audience on Roosevelt Island who are currently not spending their retail dollars on Roosevelt Island."Here are the retail store spaces available for the Master Leaseholder (Page 14 of RFP).
Still, some of the very benefits that the state sees from bringing in an outside firm independent of the politics of the island have led to concerns from residents.
For instance, the only other bidder for the retail, the co-op association of the Rivercross apartment building, is bidding for control over its own retail in attempt to avoid certain types of tenants. For example, a noisy bar once occupied the space and was the subject of many a resident complaint, says Steven Kaufman, treasurer of the association.
"They have different motives than we do—they'll be in this to make money for themselves," Mr. Kaufman says of Related and Hudson.
"We want to control the space so we can protect our building."...
What do Roosevelt Island residents want from Main Street Retail Stores? A few samplings from earlier reader comments:
1:
We could use another bank, dinner, clothing store, home good store, etc.2:
Liquor store,3:
Bakery,
Flower Shop,
Meat / Fish Store &
DUNKIN DONUTS / BASKIN ROBBIN
1. BAKERY!4:
2. Liquor store
3. Trader Joe's to replace Gristedes
TJ's is a bad idea for replacing Gristedes. It would be a great addition to some more general grocery store that offers generic and brand items. But stand-alone it will not be able to cover all your grocery and household needs.5:
I agree that Trader Joe's won't work here, but a similar smaller store that sells Gluten-Free and Organic products would be a pleasant and healthy addition to the Island.6:
Bakery (like Hot & Crusty)7:
ANYTHING to replace Gristedes (Associated, for example)
Flower shop
Fish store
Korean Deli
Spanish restaurant or even take out would be nice to have here as well. Why not all of the suggestions posted here. Lord knows, there are enough vacant storefronts to house them all.Here is a comprehensive 54 page study on Roosevelt Island Main Street Retail store situation. Among it's findings:
- Roosevelt Island residents do just 12% of their shopping on the island.
- The existing retail mix on Main Street is failing to capture the new market opportunities afforded by the island’s growing affluent market.
- Main Street suffers from several design flaws.
- Residents have a very negative attitude towards Main Street.
- Roosevelt Island is gaining affluent residents while maintaining its economic and ethnic diversity.
- Cultural and athletic activities bring thousands of visitors to Roosevelt Island each year, but this translates to very little spending on Main Street.
- The most desired new retail uses from residents on Roosevelt Island are a bakery, a restaurant, a green grocer, an ice cream shop, a pizzeria and fish store.
- There is sufficient demand to support at least a small-format green grocer, a bakery, another sit-down restaurant and a quick-service food and beverage establishment.
8 comments :
This is a good start. It is common knowledge that Hudson/Related turned down higher rents for the Starbucks space (rumored to be a deli and a Burger King) to help anchor the Commons with good tenants. They clearly have a longer-term stake and perspective on the island and this might work out well. Gristedes' really does need some competition.
Hmmm... I agree that Gristedes needs some competition - Trader Joe's might not be right, but how about a Whole Foods or something similar? I never knew about the Burger King thing, but boy am I glad they didn't put one there and got starbucks instead!
I'd also love to see some good, (high-quality) clothing retail (and home goods stores as someone else here said) here on the island.
I guess they don't have it because people think it's easy enough to jump to NYC for those things, BUT I don't want to have to go all the way into NYC just to buy a pair of pants or a new duvet, blanket, pillows or shower curtain or something...AND it's difficult to cart those larger items all the way back to the island on the F train.
Yes, I know you could do online shopping, BUT then there's usually shipping costs involved, AND you can't touch/feel/inspect the items that way...
Just some of my thoughts...
Bit of a no-brainer on this one, isn't it? I guess Rivercross felt there'd be no significant other bids. I hope Hudson/Related gets a shot at this to see what they can make happen.
Gristede's should only be allowed to remain here if it can prove and demonstrate lower, competitive prices and more diversity of products. Met Foods would be a great replacement -- So would Associated or even Trade Fair.
As for the Main Street corridor -- A BAKERY and a suitable replacement of the awful hardware store could not happen soon enough.
"Should only be allowed to remain here..." Considering that there is a contract between Gristedes and the RIOC good luck getting rid of the store. That said, I think Gristedes has improved quite a bit over the last couple years. I think they are slowly realizing that RI now has plenty of people with more money who rather get Fresh Direct or get groceries off island on the way home.
Visitors do not go to Main Street because there are NO SIGNS at Tram Plaza or the Subway to tell them that anything is located a six-minute walk away.
Perhaps visitors see the Starbucks and Nonno's from the tram and stop in there.
RIOC is looking into a signage project for how many months now?
With the tram re-opening, one hopes the merchants will put pressure on RIOC to make the signage a reality.
As for home goods and clothing, there clearly is not enough customer traffic to support those stores.
Deli, fish store, bakery, that's more like it.
We have a gigantic, half-empty parking garage. If there was compelling retail here, special rates for short-term parking for shoppers could bring people from all along the East River on the Queens side, with little traffic impact for the Island. As it stands now, no one will come here in a car because it costs way too much.
At the rent that Gristede pays you would think that RIOC should be able to attract a company that is more responsive to the community's complaints.
BUT I guess RIOC did not include any stipulations about competitive pricing in return.
The Gristede deal must be a big stumble for a potential "umbrella"
transaction.
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