RIOC Real Estate Committee Meeting Today On Roosevelt Island Main Street Retail & Ground Lease Extension For Mitchell Lama Buildings Privatization

Main Street Image Of Roosevelt Island Is The Village From Glark

A reader of this post on the good bread sold at the Roosevelt Island Farmers Market commented:

BTW, I liked the bread and think we should have a bakery here. maybe sometime soon.

and another asked:

I thought getting new stores here was now in the laps of the RIOC Board Members.... Can someone ask them what's being done to fill the storefronts?

We may be getting some answers soon regarding the deploring condition of Roosevelt Island's Main Street retail situation. Later today, the Roosevelt Island Board of Directors Real Estate Development committee will be meeting and one of the items on the Agenda is an update on the Main Street Master Leaseholder status..

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a meeting of the Real Estate Development Advisory Committee of the RIOC Board of Directors will be held on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. at the RIOC administrative office, 591 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, New York. The Committee will meet to:

discuss ground lease extensions for the Mitchell-Lama projects in the context of privatization plans; and

receive an update on the Main Street master lease RFP initiative.

During the December 2009 RIOC Board Meeting, the Real Estate Development Committee reported (From the Minutes of RIOC's December Meeting Page 9):

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

...Mr. Kalkin noted that the Committee met on November 20, 2009 to discuss the draft of the appraisal of the Main Street commercial spaces that was prepared by Liberty Appraisal Services. Mr. Kalkin stated that the Committee agreed to go ahead with an RFP for the retail master lease, and today the Board voted to hire Jones Lang to provide necessary consulting services and draft the RFP. Mr. Kalkin also noted that the Committee decided not to extend the hardware store lease, but rather to offer the current tenant a month-to-month tenancy, so as to allow it to pay its arrears and continue operating the business until an alternative arrangement is set in place....

More Roosevelt Island Main Street retail real estate news from the minutes of December 2009 board meeting (page 10):

... Mr. Shane noted that the hardware store’s lease had expired as of November 30, 2009. Per the Real Estate Development Advisory Committee’s directive, RIOC will seek to offer the tenant Liberty of Roosevelt Island Corp. a month-to-month tenancy with a requirement to vacate the premises upon the expiration of a 30-day period after appropriate notice is given by RIOC. For the time being, the tenant will pay $3,400 per month, along with the additional $100 per month as amortization of its arrears until the entire sum of $2,400 is paid...

Here's some additional information on Main Street Master Leaseholder concept and the Roosevelt Island Main Street Retail Study.

On the Ground Lease extension for Roosevelt Island's Mitchell Lama Buildings, the December 2009 minutes also reveal (Page 4)

...The second item of new business was the authorization to enter into an amendment of the real estate consulting services contract with Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc.

Mr. Shane reminded the Board that RIOC has an agreement with Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc. (“Jones Lang”) with respect to real estate consulting on Roosevelt Island. He provided a brief history of Jones Lang’s consulting services for the Corporation. Mr. Shane mentioned that according to the agreement, Jones Lang’s compensation was comprised of a monthly stipend and commission. He then noted that the Jones Lang agreement has been tolled for the last two-and-a-half years.

Mr. Shane stated that the Island House, Rivercross and Westview projects are currently seeking to extend their ground leases and withdraw from the State’s Mitchell-Lama program. Mr. Shane further noted that DHCR worked out a formula for building conversion, which meets DHCR standards for long-term affordability. However, according to Mr. Shane, given the complexity of the Mitchell-Lama withdrawal process and the diverse scenarios that may ensue, RIOC would need a consultant to provide economic modeling and formulas to make appropriate assessments of the financial consequences of such withdrawal. Given the intricacy of these transactions, the assessments would be crucial in several matters, including RIOC’s negotiations with the ESDC regarding tax equivalent payments, the City of New York regarding diminution of tax abatement, as well as in ensuring that the conversions do not create a windfall for the project owners...

The resolution authorizing the hiring of Jones Lang as a real estatae consultant passed (Page 6):

... RIOC is hereby authorized to negotiate and enter into an amendment of the Contract with Jones Lang to eliminate the prior brokerage arrangement and to engage Jones Lang to furnish financial and leasing advisory services on an hourly basis in connection with the Rivercross, Island House and Westview negotiations, the Main Street retail/commercial space master lease initiative and such other related matters on as needed basis, upon such terms and conditions substantially similar to those outlined in the Memorandum from Stephen H. Shane to RIOC Board of Directors dated November 24, 2009, attached hereto;

A webcast of the February 8 Real Estate Development Committee will be available a few days later. Audio Cast of the meeting is now available.

Where Did The Good Bread Come From At Last Week's Roosevelt Island Farmers Market? - Answer Pain D'Avignon

Image of Pain D'Avignon Bread From Daily News

A reader asks:

I wanted to know if you had any information on where the RI Marlins got the bread that they were selling last weekend at the farmers market, it was really good quality and affordable, I wish they were out there every week.

It turns out that the bread was donated by a Roosevelt Island resident who own a bakery and has previously tried to open one on Roosevelt Island but was rebuffed. The Roosevelt Island Marlins provide some details:

The bread was donated from the dad of two swimmers.
He is co-owner of the Pain d'Avignon, and lives on island.
before he was interested to open one bakery on RI, but.... RIOC...they rather have all stores empty, than...
It was affordable because he donated it.
Quality is really good - he sells same bread at Zabar's, Grand central...
From time to time we will ask him to donate, and to support Marlins this way.

Last Saturday it was Marlin's swimmers support for Haiti:)

UPDATE - 12:18 PM - Received the following comment from RIOC President Steve Shane:

"but.... RIOC...they rather have all stores empty, than..."

Really. Do you pay no attention or is it just easy for you to twit? Is that a serious comment or knowing what you do or should know about the hurdles of the PAAA, even as amended by the recent reform act, would you care to restate? No one would prefer to fill all the commercial spaces than RIOC. How sophomoric of you to suggest otherwise.

I replied:

The comment "but.... RIOC...they rather have all stores empty, than..." was not mine but made by the representative of the RI Marlins. I merely published it in post but it certainly represents the thinking of many residents of Roosevelt Island. I have written a great deal in the past about the problems of the Public Authorities Act on Roosevelt Islander Blog and did not think it was necessary to repeat that in this post because it was primarily about the 'bread". Anyone could easily click on the "Retail" label at the bottom to read more about Roosevelt Island's retail store issues if they wish and learn about the Public Authorities Act.

Also, whether or not the Public Authorities Act impeded RIOC from renting out the long time vacant Main Street retail stores in the past is certainly a debatable issue. We know that you take that position but others, also knowledgeable on subject, have a different view and have expressed the opinion that RIOC could have rented out these stores nothwithstanding the provisions of the Public Authorities Act.

But that is in the past. Hopefully RIOC will follow through on the Master Leaseholder plan and RIOC will be out of the Real Estate Retail Management business or, if not, the amended Public Authorities Act will remove any impediments you see in renting out the space.

By the way - I wasn't twitting but was blogging. Twitting is easy, blogging not.

Mr. Shane responds:

Thank you for the explanation.
The "twit" reference was not to the colloquially popular form of
communication, but rather to the act itself. See:

–verb (used with object) 1. to taunt, tease, ridicule, etc., with
reference to anything embarrassing; gibe at.
2. to reproach or upbraid.

–noun 3. an act of twitting.
4. a derisive reproach; taunt; gibe.