Here's A Copy of The Roosevelt Island Main Street Retail Master Lease Agreement Between RIOC and Hudson/Related
Finally obtained a copy of the Roosevelt Island Main Street Retail Master Leasehold Agreement between the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) and Hudson/Related. Here are some key provisions. (Click in text area to enlarge). RIOC is the Sublandlord and Hudson Related the Subtenant.
Not to mention the provision terminating the Seniors/Disabled Shoppers Bus.
As reported in these previous posts, the Seniors/Disabled Shoppers Bus has received a temporary reprieve until at least 75% of the vacant stores are leased.
Click here for the entire Master Leasehold Agreement.
Main Street Retail Master Leaseholder Agreement
Click here for the recommendations from the retail study referenced in paragraph 4 of the Main Street Retail Master Leasehold Agreement.
UPDATE 11/6 - You can search for text within the Main Street Retail Master Leasehold Agreement here.
31 comments :
How does Section 32 affect the Saturday farmer's market? Does anyone else remember when we had a very small Council on the Environment Greenmarket, that sold locally grown produce? One day it just disappeared.
In short, the green market appears to be controlled by H-R in the Master Lease.
Page 2, section 1, Premises/Commercial Spaces, subsection (1)(b) defines the overall *space* of the retail corridor in the excerpt "In the event that Sublandlord acquires a leasehold interest as a tenant or subtenant in any other commercial spaces located north of Blackwell House and south of the Motorgate Parking Garage (the "Retail Corridor") ...".
Page 36, section 32, Miscellaneous, subsection (32)(c) states "During the Term of this Sublease, Sublandlord will not grant any licenses or other approvals (unless required by law) for street sales of food or other goods by third parties in any part of the Retail Corridor.", which covers the street (I'm not sure if the sidewalk or the cement area is also considered "street sales").
It seems to me that the green market food vendors are covered by the Master Lease because they occupy space in the Retail Corridor and they are considered commercial (even though they are a fundraiser for the PTA, a non-profit entity; just as non-profits RIVAA, the church, and the boy scouts are considered "commercial"). If one were to try to categorize them as a street fair, they meet more than 10 times a year, so they wouldn't fall under the 10-or-less exception rule in the agreement.
Any thoughts?
I do not like the fact that HR may come in and dictate where we can spend our money and when, and on what. How is that improving our life here on RI? Next thing they will have a border patrol on the red bridge searching our shopping carts and cars telling us what we can bring on and off the island? I am not happy about the Shopper's bus being disolved. If anything, there should be a Red bus that would leave from the Tram and circle the island to pick up and drop off residents that want to go to Queens to shop at Costco or Associated....so, is HR and RIOC going to stop them advertising in the Wire? Ban any and all shops and stores to advertise to RI residents??? Did RIOC or anyone on RIRA read the fine print on this lease thing before saying ok to it? :( this is not good stuff here, at all.
Wow. How could they sign a lease for 30 years??? Wouldn't it be a good idea to try things out for say 5 or 10 years and evaluate if it has or has not gone well? While I agree nothing will be as bad as the last 2 years and the next 2, it still seems like one of those treaties we signed with Native Americans when we took this place from them. Its funny how people who aren't tied to this place for 30 years can commit it to something like this. Hopefully it all works out for the best but I think we all need to keep a careful eye on this "deal".
Also the farmers market is arguably one of the greatest activities on the island. If they go I think RIOC/Hudson finally will see a community revolt and boycott of all Hudson Properties. The great part about the island and this lease is that we live next to a huge city and can live without much local main street retail (note the current situation). Many of us on the island are in a situation where we could easily force Hudson to meet our needs by boycotting their retailers. Maybe this lease isn't so bad after all. Hudson basically owes RIOC x dollars per year whether we boycott businesses or not. If Hudson makes good choices, like allowing the farmers market to continue indefinitely, I will support them, if not, ?
One more thing, I am sure if Hudson is smart they are reading this. In case you didn't hear me, if you get rid of the farmers market as we know it, I will not shop at any of your stores, even Magnolia (I really love cup cakes) or a brewery (I really love beer). That is the strength of my resolve...
Hehe, I generally agree, although I doubt seeing a Magnolias a block away (across the river - btw, if you haven't already, try their banana pudding - it is fantastic). Also a brewery, lol, we could only wish - maybe a brew pub if we are reaaaally lucky ;)
I would guess that they figured they (the state) has pretty much failed over the same time period, they might as well give someone else the same chance ;) Plus - isn't this lease ending about the same time as the general ground lease to the State ?
The farmers market is pretty awesome. I personally love the idea of out door markets/vendors, and I generally think they can provide very high quality products and services for cheap due to the low over head. My fiance and I sometimes walk up the east bank (queens side) to go to the market or Gristedes, and I often dream of an outdoor set of Ramen vendors along the river ala Hikata in Fukuoka (Tonkotsu style). It would be almost the perfect setting and given the popularity in Manhattan would probably be very successful - although I think I am just dreaming, and, our climate here doesn't lend well to round the year out door restaurants ;)
We don't live "next door." We are neighborhood in that city. So much of what I find depressing about Roosevelt Island stems from the notion that we are a separate, small town and not a normal part of the city. I understand that I am in a minority of the posters on this blog who feel this way. For the same reason, I think the farmer's market could use some improvement, too -- more vendors, more locally grown or sourced produce and products. We don't need a "farmer's market" to sell lemons, for example. I understand the desire to snub Gristede's and I do it whenever possible, but buying the same thing that I can get at Gristede's, just from a different vendor doesn't do the trick for me.
HR doesn't dictate where you can spend your money. They let the free market decide. They create the framework and it is up to us and the retailers to work with it. And as always, some of the choices you'll have you will hate and some you will love.
I agree that more vendors at the Farmers Market would be great and that we don't need the Farmers Market to duplicate products available from Gristedes.
Perhaps H/R can bring additional and more varied vendors to the market than the PTA has been able to do so far.
Have you ever been to the Grand Army Plaza Prospect Park Green Market or the Smorgasburg in Williamsburg? Those are great and I think a smaller version would do well on Roosevelt Island.
Perhaps the Motorgate Plaza is not the best place for a Roosevelt Island Farmers Market. Good Shepherd Plaza might make a better location.
When it started, the market was inside Motorgate, where the vendors were protected from the elements. Gristede's complained that their lease was being violated by such close proximity and the market had to move. It would have been better at the time if they had moved to the Good Shepherd Plaza, but it's never too late. The trucks could park on Main Street, with some special dispensation.
I've never been to either of those two markets, but I've been to others that are quite small, although they can draw on far more street traffic than Roosevelt Island can promise.
Of course the farmers market should stay. But will Hudson Properties keep it? No way - since it isn't in accordance with its "scrubbed, white-bread" view of what Main St should look like, all of Main Street even under the spiral and in Motorgate.
Interestingly, Dayspring is listed as a "boathouse" in the Master Lease agreement. Does that mean Hudson is going to evict Dayspring in favor of a boat rental business at the Dayspring church instead? That, along with removing the Cabrini Chapel and Thrift, is indicative of the money-grubbing greed of Hudson - which will not leave the community with even a place to pray or help the poor by donating/purchasing at the Thrift, once it's through with us. I'd rather have Dayspring, the Cabrini Chapel and Thrift stay as is since they fill vital community needs, but I guess Kramer doesn't see it that way.
Sure it would be nice to have a full-blown farmer's market like at 14th St here - but do you see the hordes of people living in Manhattan living here? There are no hordes here - it's basically a very quiet residential islet in the river.
The idea that the Amish guy is selling the same produce as Gristede's is not true in any event - since the Amish guy's produce is immeasurably fresher and priced competitively as well. So it is definitely not the same thing. He also has a much wider array of greens, and some vegetables that you can't get at Gristede's.
All in all, if anything, he's a great "complement" to what's available at Gristede's - in the sense that you can complete your needs by maybe buying some things at Gristede's and then rounding out your purchases with the wonderful fruits & vegetables and so forth the Amish guy sells.
There's enough parking by the spiral. I don't know how the parking would play out at the Chapel. You would definitely not want trucks or cars parked on the plaza - especially after the renovation. Actually, an even better spot would be Southtown Commons - since there is parking along the East drive and plenty of room in the Commons. However, the vendors and customers might damage the lovely Commons plantings, which would be a shame.
Not at the same time. The ground lease ends in the late 2060s.
So sue them. That's what we should all do if we had the "cojones" and money to do it. Hudson Properties clearly misrepresented what they were going to do.
If they had stated what their intentions were, do you think the resident RIOC Board members would have voted to OK the Master lease? It would have been political "suicide" for RIOC Board members to vote to OK the discontinuation of the shoppers red bus or the farmers market.
Do you think Kalkin knew the Master Lease was going to contain anti-competitive clauses, more or less imposing Main St shopping on residents, as if we were a subject people and Kramer a commercial dictator?
No - the RIOC Board Members could not have been fully cognizant of the negative ramifications of the Master Lease on their constituents - us, the residents of RI, otherwise they would not have voted for it.
That leaves the only other possible explanation for the blatant sell-out or give-away the Master Lease represents: The RIOC Board Members didn't in fact understand or read the lease carefully, and thus, we can say they were deceived by technical language such that the lease was not written in plain English understandable to a non-real estate professional or lawyer, and no effort was made by Hudson Properties to completely clarify any and all ambiguous or hard-to-understand issues for each Board member.
Thus any Board Member who signed the lease not fully understanding what s/he was signing should join a law suit to have their agreement to the lease revoked, as it is nullified in any event due to the willful deceit of the lessee in writing it in confusing, deceptive language; it's like having someone who doesn't speak Chinese sign a contract written in Chinese. It isn't a valid binding contract if you do not understand what is written.
I say we should get formal statements from each RIOC Board member signatory regarding their level of understanding of the ramifications of the contract. If RIOC Board members indicate they didn't fully and completely understand and agree with the lease clauses, then the contract can be considered invalid, since the signatories were not fully cognizant of what they were agreeing to. It would be a simple matter to settle the disagreement in commercial court, where a judge would quickly identify the problem and simply rip up the Master Lease - before any harm can be done to the people of RI.
Ha, ha, ha, ha --- very funny! The "almighty" free market! That is, as Hudson Companies sees it - generating a nice stream of income for Hudson Companies, at the expense of the people of RI! Very, very funny! ROFL!
PLEASE DO NOT TAKE AWAY THE SHOPPERS BUS! THE ELDERY AND HANDICAPPED DEPEND ON THIS BUS TO GO TO COSTCO AND OTHER STORES FOR THEIR MEDICATIONS AND GROCERIES AND TO GO TO THEIR DOCTORS IN QUEENS!! I could understand if nobody used it, but people depend on this bus. Why would you take that away?
Yup, that's how capitalism works. Not sure what's so funny, though. Thing is, in the end it will turn out ok. It always does.
You are trying to come up with a lot of excuses here. Thing is the RIOC has a general counsel on staff. I doubt anybody was misguided here. They were either just too lazy to understand the whole thing (happens all the time in politics) or they agreed to it, You know, the all mighty RI residents on the RIOC board have been letting us down quite a bit in the past. No surprises here.
would free market include if I decided to take the shoppers bus over to Costco or Associated in Queens? They should be adding to the island, not taking away. The bus is a valuable tool that is used in this community by those on a fixed income that need to go and buy vitamins, meds, milk, juice, and other groceries on their fixed income. Why would HR take that away from people that use it and need it? Being on a fixed income is just that, " a fixed income" and Costco usually has things the same price over a period of time and is close by. Why was that even put in the contract? Do they think that hoards of people pile on the shoppers bus? They should investigate who uses it and when. Go on the bus one of those mornings and meet the people that use it and why.
Cause it ain't exactly free if the people you're supposed to "serve" by providing "superior" shopping "options" to are in fact trapped by geography into being a captive audience. That negates the very concept of a free market.
The free market on RI sounds more like Chairman Mao in the guise of Mr. Kramer telling us all where we can and can't shop, and also profiting off every resident's back when merchants start charging sky-high prices in order to meet Kramer's sky-high rents.
RI residents: How would you like to participate in further fattening up Kramer - who is rich enough as it is - every time you spend money on Main St?
And yet Kramer tells us we should be grateful to be robbed of money, benches, the shoppers bus, the farmer's market, because he's going to slap a new "brand" - his "brand" on Main St - we should be grateful to be robbed of all this in return for what - a paint-job and some wood paneling? Who, dear reader, is getting the short end of the stick in this deal?
How would we like to have robbed Main St of any religious/philanthropic/non-profit organizations so we can instead concentrate on worshiping the almighty dollar as Kramer would have us do? No, we can't be allowed to view works of art, pray, or help others by donating/shopping at the Thrift, because doing so isn't "capitalistic" enough for Kramer. The concepts of humanism, charity, faith, and goodness are absent from Kramer's play book - since he is exclusively devoted to the "free market".
If you like this picture, stay and give your last pennies to Kramer, and watch as he laughs all the way to the bank.
Otherwise, write to Gov. Cuomo to request the immediate cancellation of the Master Lease agreement since the RIOC Board Members did not understand what they were signing.
The agreement can already be considered null and void due to the lack of understanding of the Board Members who signed it. Only the "blessing" of a court ruling is needed to formalize the voiding of the contract.
If they were lazy then they should quit. What kind of representation do we have if they can't bother to read a contract before signing it.
If they didn't understand what they were signing (which is more likely) then the contract can be considered null since the signers had no idea what they were signing. Those that signed the agreement should be questioned by the press as to their level of understanding of the contract and in the upcoming RIOC Board member elections, their explanations and positions will be taken into account by the voters. Those that sold us out, will be voted out!
I think you are living in the wrong country. Or at least in the wrong city.
Since when is it okay to sign something that they didn't understand? That would only fly if somebody held a gun at their heads and forced them to sign it. Most of the people that signed the agreement live on this island. Go out and meet up with them at Trellis or before/after a RIOC board meeting. They are your neighbors. You wants answers, go out and seek them. I believe Frank did that and he was given a very weak excuse.
So, yes, I think they should all quit. They are way over there heads in this.
Notme- Kramer is the one in thewrong place.RI luckilyisn't filled with heartless folks likehim andhis developer/banker friends.
Living on a 2 mile long island we should not feel trapped to shop at all the new stores HR has envisioned here. The Shoppers bus and the Q102 bus should continue to go on and off the island to Queens, unless Mr. Kramer has both of them cancelled so he is trying to force people to come in and sign a lease from HR. That seems like blackmail to me. I am a bit more leary about HR now building here on RI. I still think this is a foot in the direction on HR buying the whole island. I guess time will tell if that is there full intention or not. But cancelling the shoppers bus that elderly and handipcapped residnts use it a very bad move on their part.
HR Master Lease provision 32 states that sublandlord should terminate the Shopper's Bus before Feb 1st 2012. That should have been taken out. HR taking things away from the island is a bad move, they should be inhancing our lives here...I thought that was the point?
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