What's The Latest On Roosevelt Island Main Street Retail Stores? Master Leaseholder RFP Submissions Received, Being Analyzed & Will Be Discussed At November 17 RIOC Real Estate Committee Meeting

Main Street Image From Jones Lang LaSalle

What's going on with the Roosevelt Island Main Street retail situation? Will the depressing, dreary, Soviet Union/East Berlin before the Fall of the Wall, looking storefronts

Main Street Image Of Roosevelt Island Is The Village From Glark

ever become vibrant and appealing to Roosevelt Island residents? Will government, in the form of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) finally get out of the business of leasing and managing retail real estate?

Some Roosevelt Island residents are skeptical of stores ever filling Roosevelt Island's dreary Main Street as expressed by this reader's comment to RIOC President Leslie Torres November 4 Report to the Community:

Once again, not a word about the empty storefronts on Main Street, obviously because there has been no progress, Nor will there ever be, until then head of RIOC actually lives on the island, or until such time as we get out from under the thumb of NY State and become a normal New York City neighborhood.

and this comment to Ms. Torres October 21 Report:

Jonathan Kalkin should be commenting on the RFP for the Retain Master Lease Project. I heard there are no takers for that, just a few inquiries.

So, you sent Mr. Shane packing just a few months before he was going to retire, and you don't have anyone to start filling the storefronts. Great.

The original October 13 deadline for submissions in response to the Roosevelt Island Main Street Retail Master Leaseholder Request For Proposals (RFP) was extended to November 1 and now we are waiting to see the results, if any. We may have some answers as to the status of the RFP next week because the RIOC Real Estate Development Committee is scheduled to receive a report on any proposals received by Jones Lang LaSalle, (RIOC's consultant on project) during the November 17 Committee Meeting. The meeting's Agenda is below.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a meeting of the Real Estate Development Advisory Committee of the RIOC Board of Directors will be held on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. at the RIOC administrative office, 591 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, New York.

The agenda for the meeting will be:

1. Review of the Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc. Report on the Commercial Master Lease Proposals; and

2. 2. Extension of Trellis Lease.

Asked to comment on the Master Leaseholder status, RIOC President Leslie Torres responds:

It has only been a few days since the submission deadline but we are encouraged by the proposals that have been submitted and are optimistic about the process. We are currently reviewing and  preparing analysis of the proposals for our board and we will, of course, discuss the matter in public at the first appropriate instance.

As to Mr. Kalkin, I have been observing this issue from the very start and in my opinion Mr. Kalkin has done a terrific job shepherding this challenging and difficult issue to it's present state despite the many roadblocks placed in his way. Whether a Main Street Master Retail Leaseholder is the best option for Roosevelt Island is still an open question but it is worthy of exploration. Let's see what happens!

The RFP is here and an addendum was added here.

Also, here are links to audio web casts of RIOC Real Estate Committee Meetings in which Roosevelt Island Retail Master Leaseholder issues were discussed and debated in great detail as well as a comprehensive Study on Roosevelt Island retail prepared by consutants Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates.