Following up – what is to be developed on landmark lot?
From the Staten Island Advance
At Victory and Clove, nobody’s Valentine
There’s a landmark house on site and drugstore’s due, but lot’s in limbo
Saturday, July 28, 2007
By KAREN O’SHEA
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — When KeySpan began storing pipes and equipment at the corner of Victory Boulevard and Clove Road for a gas main project, the utility thought the large vacant lot belonged to the city.
“We found out it’s not city property, so we are going to remove the materials,” Karen Young, a KeySpan spokeswoman, said after being contacted by the Advance earlier in the week.
The pipes were promptly removed but it’s unclear what will become of the corner property, where a landmark house was moved from the bottom to the top of the lot nearly a decade ago to make way for commercial development that never materialized.
Located at one of the borough’s busiest and potentially profitable intersections, the corner lot belongs to a private owner who is simultaneously leasing the land to drugstore chain Duane Reade and suing to evict the company.
Maryann McGowan, president of the Clove Lakes Civic Association, does not want to see a Duane Reade built there, fearing the congestion the store might bring, but she’s also disappointed by the current conditions at the overgrown corner.
“It is an eyesore, but I don’t know at this point who is responsible,” she said.
Pennsylvania resident Fred Smith owns the land and went to court five years ago to try to break his lease with Duane Reade.
Duane Reade, meanwhile, recently amended its complaint and is seeking $5 million in damages for loss of profit. The long-running case could finally go to trial this fall.
“If we win the lawsuit, I assume Duane Reade will build there or do something profitable there. It’s a good site and it’s a very busy area,” said attorney Richard J. Sgarlato.
In 2002, Duane Reade took over a lease for the site from a former tenant who had planned to open a Kentucky Fried Chicken in a building designed to meet city landmark requirements. Court papers said Smith agreed to the lease assignment but then sought to break his lease with the drugstore later that same year, arguing that the company had not met construction deadlines set out in the lease.
Duane Reade fought back, charging that Smith knew the store planned to build a bigger building and would need to go through another approval process. The drugstore got its final building permits last year.
“We say [Smith] acquiesced in all of this. He knew it would take longer,” said Sgarlato.
“We are confident our position in this litigation will be vindicated. Other than that, we don’t have a comment,” said Allyn Crawford, the attorney representing Smith.
Smith’s late aunt was Dorothy Valentine Smith, a historian who penned “Staten Island: Gateway to New York.” Her house was designated a city landmark, and in 1998 Smith moved the house on the lot to make way for commercial development at the corner.
Mrs. McGowan likes Borough President James Molinaro’s idea of creating a landscaped parking lot at the busy corner.
Molinaro said yesterday that he’s waiting to see what happens with the litigation and focusing on making sure Victory Boulevard gets widened at the intersection.
KeySpan crews, meanwhile, have been working in the area since April to relocate the utility’s underground gas pipes in preparation for a water main installation project along Clove Road. The pipes were moved this week from the corner lot to another spot on Clove Road, across the street from Clove Lakes Park.
Karen O’Shea covers real estate news for the Advance. She may be reached at [email protected] .
© 2007 Staten Island Advance
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