WNYC Radio Reports On New Roosevelt Island Cornell Campus and Revitalization Of Main Street Retail - We're A Captive Retail Audience, Like Airports, Says Hudson's David Kramer
Main Street Image Of Roosevelt Island Is The Village From GlarkAccording to WNYC radio:
... “If you walk down Main Street you will see shuttered shop after shuttered shop,” said Matthew Katz, president of the Roosevelt Island Residents’ Association and one of RIOC’s biggest critics. “Why? Because all of those shops, their landlord was RIOC. And RIOC did not know how to be a commercial landlord, and it did not want to be a commercial landlord. “...Click here for the entire WNYC article and below is the radio report.
... “If anything the retail should be more successful on an island, which is an island,” said David Kramer, principal at the Hudson Companies. “It’s a captive audience. It should do well like retail does in airports.”
Carl Weisbrod, a long-time resident of Roosevelt Island and senior partner at HR&A Advisors, is one person who is confident about the impact of the tech campus.
“It will definitely affect retail,” he said...
... The prospect of the new business the campus will bring, and the presence of an experienced private developer, may begin to pay off soon. The Hudson and Related Companies are in negotiations with five new stores, according to Kramer, with the first new stores expected in the summer.
The impact may be less positive for existing stores, however. Trellis, the neighborhood diner, is one of three stores that the Hudson Companies are negotiating with; they’re likely to face higher rents.
I've heard from a reliable source, though unconfirmed from Hudson/Related, that one of the new Roosevelt Island Main Street Stores is likely to be a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins shop.
Now, if we can just get the Mobile Food Trucks by the subway, Roosevelt Island residents may soon have some good retail choices some of which were suggested by this 2009 Main Street Retail Study.
8 comments :
This comment makes my heart sink. No, we are not a captive audience. We are one subway stop from midtown Manhattan. If the shops were appealing enough, people who live elsewhere could shop here as easily as we can shop elsewhere. Obviously, Hudson/Related still has not observed shoppers exiting the subway with full bags from Wholefoods, Trader Joe's, Citarella and a myriad of other stores. Obviously, we are too small a population to support any of those, but the fact that so many residents are willing to shop in such places strongly suggests that there shopping dollars could be diverted directly to the island, if there were any places to spend them.
Steve Shane was trying to to bring a Dunkin-Donuts/Baskin-Robbins to the island when he was fired. One problem was that the store was interested only the space occupied by RIVAA.
Well, RIVAA should have been moved. They don't pay any rent anyway. Mr. Shane was too nice, and that's why the Board he allowed to take office got rid of him. Nice guys finish last. However, he got one lastr laugh by making sure his connects in Albany replaced Jonathan Kalkin when they wanted to bring in Sal Ferrera. They could have gotten rid of Faye Christianson, but didn't. Anyway, I hope we get a Dunkin Donuts / Baskin Robbins. Better late than never.
There are a lot of empty storefronts on the island. Until the others are filled, I don't see why RIVAA, which is the only existing "business" on Main Street that looks as if it is in New York City and not a third-world country, should be forced to move.
A Dunkin Donuts? I like Dunkin Donuts, but I would really prefer to
have non-chains. That part of being a "captive audience" I'd prefer to
skip. Plus, can we start with just getting more restaurants? How about some Mexican and Thai food?
That would be great. Even more important is a wine/liquor store.
I am looking forward to a DD/BR store. I am a bit tired of Starbucks and its rather hight prices. Would I prefer a pop and mom shop over a chain store? Not sure. If they can match the prices, sure.
Discontinued : Numark Axis 2 Numark Axis 8 Numark CDN 12 Numark CDN 15 Numark Mpcd3. E-MU / Creative Professional. The Sony DEJ915 portable CD player is one of the world's smallest and lightest--at 0.75 inches thick and 5.2 ounces without batteries. I imagine there are other writers who haven’t thought much about how important it is to set it up nicely and keep it updated, but I was clueless until just last month.
Post a Comment