A Venezuelan arts organization and RXR Realty have agreed to avert cancellation, at least temporarily, of a theater, exhibition and classroom project in New Rochelle.
RXR, of Uniondale, notified the Venezuelan American Endowment on Feb. 4 to vacate the yet-to-be-completed downtown cultural space.
Photo by Aleesia Forni.
VAEA responded with a lawsuit on March 1 asking Westchester Supreme Court to order RXR to approve construction drawings and not interfere with its tenancy.
On March 3 they called a truce, agreeing to drop their demands for now, in a stipulation filed with the court.
The disputed ground is in RXR’s 28-story residential tower at 595 Main St.
The site was once home to a grand, Spanish-Mediterranean style Lowe’s Theatre that eventually devolved into an eyesore.
The city, aspiring to transform a blighted street into a cultural district, allowed RXR to build four extra floors in exchange for preserving architectural features of the Loew’s Theatre and including a 10,000-square-foot performance space.
RXR agreed to lease space to VAEA for ten years and the possibility of renewals for another 30 years. Monthly rent was set at $0 plus operating costs for shared spaces.
VAEA is a nonprofit organization that supports artistic and cultural exhibitions, performances and publications.
Under the lease, VAEA had to achieve certain milestones by specific dates as it built out the space, such as submitting drawings and securing construction financing.
RXR and VAEA signed the lease in March 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic was beginning, and the work fell behind schedule.
RXR extended the deadlines by 120 days, in recognition of the pandemic. Then after VAEA’s architect submitted drawings, both sides agreed that the city would hire an architect to produce construction documents.
On Nov. 5, RXR notified the arts organization that it was in default on the lease.
It had failed to finish and occupy classroom and exhibition spaces, for instance, or hold a sufficient number of events required by the lease. Other than the 120 days of delays previously acknowledged, the letter states, “there have been no further unavoidable delays … impacting tenant’s performance of its obligations under the lease.”
VAEA was given 30 days to “cure” the defaults.
On Feb. 4, RXR notified VAEA to vacate the premises by Feb. 11.
“Tenant has simply failed to take any meaningful actions to satisfy its obligations pertaining to the diligent pursuit of the milestones,” the notice says.
VAEA sued. An emergency injunction was needed, the organization’s chairman, Ali Cordero Casal, said in an affidavit, “to allow this litigation to be heard without the irreversible consequences of … eviction and catastrophic forfeiture of the blood, sweat, and tears that have been invested in the premises and the New Rochelle community.”
VAEA argues that the work was unavoidably delayed not only by the pandemic but by the city in carrying out its role on the project. Before the November default notice, Casal said, RXR had never “hinted at any default or … failure to comply with deadlines.”
The organization wants the court to nullify the default notice and extend deadlines by at least 366 days.
Westchester Supreme Court Justice Linda S. Jamieson ordered VAEA and RXR to discuss a settlement, a narrowing of the dispute or mediation on March 30.
