November 19, 2005

Editorial
A Big-Box Blunder

Members of the RIOC Board of Directors essentially admitted at their late-Thursday meeting that they’re letting their commissioned real-estate consultant run free and largely unsupervised in scaring up deals for development of Roosevelt Island.

"We on the Board have final control," said Michael Shinozaki, a resident member of the Board. That’s true. But the kind of deals that are brought to the Board is apparently being left largely to Paul Mas, the consultant, to find and foster.

In issuing a series of invitations for proposals recently, Mas put forward as potentially available on Roosevelt Island at least two parcels that should never have been offered as they were: The Southpoint Park area immediately south of the cross-Island fence, and the area around the Island’s Tram station, which Mas put forward as an ideal location for a "big box retailer."

Shinozaki said the Board isn’t supervising Mas day to day – by which he meant that No, the Board did not approve the specifics of Mas’s offer of parkland and the idea of a big-box retailer generating motor traffic in the Tram-station area. In short, Mas was allowed the freedom to characterize possible uses for the space as he chose, without any Board supervision.

What’s wrong with this?

First of all, a big-box retailer is appropriate for a location half the Island away from the Roosevelt Island Bridge only if we’re willing to tolerate all sorts of traffic coming and going on Main Street. No big-box retailer is going to be content with an occasional shopper arriving by car. So an attempt to attract such a retailer is reasonable only if you don’t happen to live here – and Mas doesn’t.

And there’s some history that should be throwing up red flags for the RIOC Board. At a recent meeting, Mas put forward the idea of a DVD vending machine as an appropriate occupant of the former Montauk Credit Union storefront on Main Street, while dismissing a replacement credit union as a possible tenant, apparently because the offer wasn’t as good and he chose not to negotiate it upward. With DVD rentals available across the street and an important source of support for the hardware store, Mas was proposing to accept a serious threat to the hardware store while giving short shrift to something far more valuable to residents who will soon seek mortgages for apartment purchases. And there’s evidence that he would never have mentioned the credit-union possibility had The WIRE not sounded an alarm.

When the Board voted down the DVD vending machine idea, Mas reportedly called the rejection of his handshake deal "unprofessional." That raises serious questions about whether he’s even willing to be supervised appropriately.

Could the same thing happen with a big-box retailer? Could a Best Buy be put forward for the Tram station location (which would be bad enough) while a possibility more useful for residents is hidden or soft-peddled because the income wouldn’t be quite as good? The history indicates that could happen.

And why is Mas being allowed to offer Southpoint Park space?

The RIOC Board needs to get serious about overseeing the way our Island’s assets are marketed.

DL