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September 23, 2006 |
by Jami Bernard
A hair and nail salon is coming to Southtown, and maybe – just maybe – some underground parking. These were some of the items discussed last week at the first annual meeting of Riverwalk Place (455 Main Street).
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The meeting, held in the rooftop party room of what is sometimes referred to as Building 3, yielded announcements of interest not only to the healthy turnout of owners, but to the rest of the Island as well. David Kramer, a principal of the Hudson Companies, said that in terms of retail-space leasing, a deal with a bagel-sandwich place has fallen through, a deal with a beauty salon is all but guaranteed, and there have been negotiations with a Japanese take-out eatery for one of the two or three spaces left. (Two of those spaces can be combined.)
Duane Reade Drugs, which has locked in 7,500 square feet of Building 4, is expected to open in summer, 2007. A deal with a bank is in the works for the remaining 3,500 square feet next to it. Kramer would not confirm which bank was in the lead, but savvy observers note that the Duane Reade chain usually pairs up with Chase ATMs, and it could very well be a package deal.
"We need food!" announced Nick Guider, a Riverwalk Place owner and a realtor for Halstead, from the back of the room. There was a ripple of approval from owners for whom purchase of a last-minute carton of milk is impossible when rushing home to relieve the babysitter.
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There is no retail space planned for Buildings 5 & 6, (415 and 405 Main Street, respectively), which will be built simultaneously beginning next year.
A potentially important (and, for Islanders, life-changing) development is that Hudson-Related is "enthusiastically encouraging" RIOC to give up its oversight of all retail leasing on the Island. According to Kramer, even RIOC agrees it’s not its preferred line of business. That doesn’t guarantee that the builder-management team of Hudson-Related would win the eventual contract to lease spaces along Main Street, but it offers a glimmer of hope for an eventual return of a pizza place, bakery, and sports bar, to name a few retailers that are currently MIA and sorely missed.
Although Building 3 of the Southtown cluster is sold out but for one unit, Hudson-Related will continue to control the board, per the by-laws, for five years, along with a minority representing the floors that were sold to Cornell-Weill. It’s highly unusual for a sold-out condo to deny board representation to owners for such a long "transition period," and the mood in the party room was, accordingly, a shade less than festive. Unit owners fretted about security, building policies, and accountability.
However, Kramer and Rich Smith, Related’s agent for the building, offered to hold elections for two owner liaisons who could attend (but not vote at) board meetings, and acknowledged there were kinks in the operation of the building that were slowly being worked out.
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One of those kinks, apparently, is that Verizon doesn’t have nearly enough copper wire on the Island to connect the building’s intercom system or provide DSL service to all who request it. (This also explains why the promised wi-fi park has park, but no wi-fi.)
Another is that, despite posted no smoking signs on the rooftop terrace, some owners have carelessly flung still-burning cigarettes off the parapet onto the patios of their neighbors two stories below. In one case, such behavior started a fire on patio-furniture cushions just a few feet from an open (and, thankfully, unoccupied) baby carriage.
On the fate of the nearly completed Building 4, Kramer confirmed early rumors that it will be sold to "an educational facility for staff and faculty housing" – everyone believes that the buyer is NYU, although Kramer won’t comment on that until the ink is dry. In addition, Hudson-Related is carving out more than 60 units to sell as condos or to rent as they see fit.
Kramer promised that Buildings 5 & 6 would be market-rate condos, but as he has in the past, hinted that there would be room for senior housing among Buildings 7-9.
As for parking possibilities, there were no plans for it in the original Southtown proposals, but Kramer admitted to the possibility of reopening that dialogue with RIOC following the gubernatorial elections, after which the RIOC board will undoubtedly change. Getting permission to build underground parking in new construction would entail a series of bureaucratic steps, including a new environmental-impact approval, but it’s not out of the question.
Meanwhile, there will be five or six muni-meters installed along the border of Building 1 so that people can unload their cars after shopping trips without fear of being ticketed or towed.
"The original plan was for a car-free Island," Kramer reminded the crowd of new owners, many of whom are perhaps unfamiliar with the Island’s history and raison d’etre.
Also discussed was the idea of an electronic bulletin board or community website, and more aesthetic ways of storing recyclables on the sidewalk until pickup.