N.Y. Military Law § 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:
1. (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.
2. (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.