N.Y. Military Law § 180-a: Lease and operation of seventh regiment armory

§ 180-a. Lease and operation of seventh regiment armory. 1.

Definitions. (a) "Adjutant general" shall mean adjutant general of the

state of New York.

(b) "Armory" shall mean the seventh regiment armory located at 101-129

East 66th street, 100-126 East 67th street, 888-898 Lexington avenue and

641-649 Park avenue, in the county of New York, state of New York and

identified as Block 1401, Lot 1 on the tax map of the city of New York

bounded by Park and Lexington avenues and Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh

streets.

(c) "City lease" shall mean collectively, the leases dated September

23, 1874 and April 23, 1879 by and between the mayor, aldermen and

commonality of the city of New York to the field officers of the seventh

regiment.

(d) "Division" shall mean the state division of military and naval

affairs, established by article nine of the executive law.

(e) "Lease" shall mean a lease for a term of up to ninety-nine years

to be entered into between the state, acting through the urban

development corporation, as lessor, and the lessee, as tenant, leasing

the armory or portions thereof.

(f) "Lessee" shall mean the tenant, a not-for-profit corporation

dedicated to the preservation of the armory as a historical, civic and

cultural facility for the community, which is party to a lease with the

state, acting through the urban development corporation as landlord,

leasing the armory or portions thereof.

(g) "Management agreement" shall mean an agreement to be entered into

by the state, acting through the urban development corporation,

providing for the management of the armory on a short-term basis on

behalf of the state as part of the routine or continuing administration

and management of the armory.

(h) "Military use" shall mean during periods which are not periods of

civil or military emergency, use of a portion of the armory containing

approximately twenty-one hundred square feet, or such lesser area as the

division may determine, located in the portion of the armory which is

not a designated New York city landmark (i.e., not in the historic rooms

located on the first and second floors or the drill hall), for offices

or administrative functions of the division, and use by the division

during any periods of civil or military emergency.

(i) "Periods of civil or military emergency" shall mean any period

during which an order of the adjutant general directing a response to a

civil or military emergency is in effect. Said order shall have effect

in relation to this section only in the event of an order by the

adjutant general specifically asserting control of areas within the

armory.

(j) "Shelter use" shall mean use during periods which are not periods

of civil or military emergency, the city of New York shall have the

right to access and use sufficient and suitable space for the current

and uninterrupted operation of the shelter by the city of New York, as

well as usual and customary building services and utilities, including

but not limited to heat, water and electric, for use as a shelter for

homeless persons.

(k) "Urban development corporation" shall mean the New York state

urban development corporation, a public benefit corporation of the

state, doing business as the empire state development corporation.

(l) "Legacy cadet corps program" shall mean a cadet corps or organized

militia program that has accessed or used a regimental armory located

within a city that has a population of over one million people for over

one hundred years during periods which are not periods of civil or

military emergency.

2. State ownership of facility and fixtures. (a) The state, acting

through the division, is and shall be recognized as and declared to be

the lawful successor to the interest of the lessee under the city lease.

No other person or party, whether through claims or entitlements of past

or continuing use, occupancy, improvement or otherwise, is or shall be

recognized as having any lawful rights in respect of the armory other

than as may be expressly granted by, and subject to, the applicable

subdivisions of section one hundred eighty-three of this article.

(b) All improvements, betterments, fixtures, equipment, ornaments,

decorative elements, and similar items affixed or attached to the armory

building (i.e., all items other than moveable personal property which is

not affixed to the walls or other parts of the building) are hereby

recognized and declared to be an integral part of the armory and

property of the state, and any and all persons who have heretofore

installed or paid for the installation of any of the foregoing items are

deemed to have donated such items to the state as of the time of the

installation of such items in the armory.

3. Lease and operation of armory; certain provisions of this chapter

not applicable. (a) Except with respect to expenditures made by the

state or the division in connection with military use or the operation

of the armory during a period of civil or military emergency, the

following provisions of this article shall not apply to the repair,

restoration, refurbishment or operation of the armory pursuant to the

lease or the management agreement: section one hundred seventy-eight,

subdivisions two and three of section one hundred eighty and section one

hundred eighty-one.

(b) The provisions of section one hundred eighty-two of this article

shall apply only with respect to military use of the portions of the

armory not demised under the lease, and with respect to periods of civil

or military emergency, and shall not apply to the operations of the

armory under the lease or the management agreement.

(c) Except with respect to military use and during periods of civil or

military emergency, section one hundred eighty-three of this article

shall not apply to the operations of the armory pursuant to the lease or

the management agreement. The following provisions shall apply in lieu

of such section one hundred eighty-three:

(i) On application of any of the associations of veterans or cadet

corps programs, including a legacy cadet corps program, described in

paragraphs a and b of subdivision one of such section one hundred

eighty-three, the lessee or the manager pursuant to the terms of the

management agreement shall provide a proper and convenient room or rooms

or other appropriate space in the armory where such posts or chapters

may hold regular and special meetings and organizational social events

of a private nature, without the payment of any charge or expense

therefor, provided that such use does not interfere with the use by the

lessee or the manager pursuant to the terms of the management agreement,

including any use by third parties contracted for under subparagraph

(ii) of this paragraph.

(ii) The armory may be used by any person, firm, association,

corporation, or municipal entity, provided that such person, firm,

association or corporation enters into an agreement with the lessee or

the manager pursuant to the terms of the management agreement permitting

such use. The terms of any agreement entered into between the lessee or

the manager pursuant to the terms of the management agreement and a user

shall provide for such usage to cease during any periods of civil or

military emergency.

(d) The provisions of sections one hundred eighty-five, one hundred

eighty-six and one hundred eighty-seven of this article shall not apply

to the armory.

(e) The management agreement and lease shall not apply to shelter use

or to a legacy cadet corps program. Shelter use shall be governed by a

separate agreement between the city of New York, the lessee and the

state of New York; such separate agreement shall be executed prior to

the execution of the lease. A legacy cadet corps program use shall be

governed by a separate agreement between the division and the state of

New York; such separate agreement shall be executed once a cadet corps

program is determined to be a legacy cadet corps program.

(f) A cadet corps program shall qualify as a legacy cadet corps

program if such program can sufficiently demonstrate to the urban

development corporation that the cadet corps program has used or

occupied a regimental armory for over one hundred years. Methods of

sufficiently proving use or occupancy shall include, but not be limited

to, photos, notarized statements, letters addressed to the program, bank

statements, and utility bills. If a cadet corps program qualifies as a

legacy cadet corps program, the urban development corporation shall

designate them as such and immediately begin to enter into a separate

agreement with such program.