As the MTA looks to maximize its revenue streams, the company’s myriad real estate holdings have come under the microscope. The 270 Jay St. building remains controversial, and the reduced payment for the Vanderbilt Yards have left many raising an eyebrow. Another property dispute — this one involving less money — made some headlines this morning. The authority has begun eviction procedures against 3-Legged Dog, an experimental theater and media troupe currently renting space from the MTA at 80 Greenwich St. The group, which signed a 20-year lease in 2002 after its home at 30 West Broadway was destroyed on Sept. 11, owes the MTA $21,666.67 a month and had fallen behind in its rent payments by $306,000.
The eviction notice did not arrive without controversy. With the company raising a stink, two politicians urged the MTA to reconsider. Supposedly, part of 3-Legged Dog’s debt stems from their need to pay for asbestos abatement on the MTA-owned building. The authority, however, says the troupe is overstating the cost of this work. “I don’t know how anyone can justify letting this tenant rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in back rent at a time when state cuts and deteriorating tax revenues have forced the MTA to lay off station agents and cut service,” spokesman Jeremy Soffin said to the Wall Street Journal. This move is indeed a prime example of Jay Walder’s efforts to make every dollar count.
7 comments
What kind of wacky leases do you have in NYC where the tenant is responsible for paying for asbestos removal? Shouldn’t that fall on the landlord?
Yeah, but if the landlord doesn’t pay for certain types of needed repairs, then the tenant sometimes has the right to hire someone to do the work and then take the cost out of the rent.
About the “Vanderbilt Yards”:
Is that just another name for the Madison Yards,
where the LIRR concourse in Grand Central will be located?
No, the Vanderbilt Yard is the official name for the LIRR yard adjacent to the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, also known as the Atlantic Yards.
The deal Ben K. is referring to is Bruce Ratner’s sweetheart deal for the air rights over the LIRR Vanderbilt Yards to build his arena and other buildings, to be known as “Atlantic Yards Mall”.
OK, thanks!
By the way, I grew up in Brooklyn.
If I still lived there, I’d be telling New Jersey to keep the terrible Nets, we don’t want them.
On a related subject, it always makes more logical sense for the numbering of something to begin with 1, rather than 0.
I was in the minority ten years ago by being constantly aware that mathematically, the 21st century and the third millennium would begin with 2001 and not 2000.
Therefore, I was glad to hear that the tracks on the LIRR level of Grand Central Terminal will be numbered 201 to 208.
That makes more sense than the existing Lower Level, where the tracks in passenger service go from 100 to 117.
Typical MTA (and news media) behavior…make headlines over $306,000 while $100s of millions are basically given away to developers like Ratner.