125 Hempstead Turnpike Corp. v. Tracco Hempstead, Inc.

14 Misc. 2d 554, 177 N.Y.S.2d 778, 1958 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2982
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 2, 1958
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 14 Misc. 2d 554 (125 Hempstead Turnpike Corp. v. Tracco Hempstead, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
125 Hempstead Turnpike Corp. v. Tracco Hempstead, Inc., 14 Misc. 2d 554, 177 N.Y.S.2d 778, 1958 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2982 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1958).

Opinion

Marcus G. Christ, J.

Defendant Tracco Hempstead, Inc. is the owner of a large shopping center at West Hempstead, in the Town of Hempstead. The plaintiff and the defendant S. Klein Department Stores, Inc. are each tenants of Tracco under separate written leases. Klein operates a large department store on the shopping center property and the plaintiff operates a shoe store in the same center. A sidewalk privately owned by Tracco runs across the property from Maple Street to Bockaway Boad westerly, northerly and again westerly. It bounds Klein’s store and the plaintiff’s store separating them from the parking field. The suit is for a declaratory judgment to determine the respective rights of the parties in and to the use of the sidewalk and in and to the use of the parking field. In the event the judgment should be for the plaintiff then the plaintiff seeks further a permanent restraining injunction curtailing the use of the parking field and of the sidewalks by the defendants.

The Klein lease was originally made to the defendant Grayson-Bobinson Stores, Inc., by Tracco on September 20,1954. There[556]*556after by agreement with Tracco, S. Klein Department Stores, Inc., was substituted for Grayson-Robinson Stores, Inc., as the tenant. By this agreement Grayson-Robinson Stores, Inc., was relieved of all liability except as a guarantor of the obligations of S. Klein Department Stores, Inc., under the lease. Article 10 of the Klein lease contains the following language ‘1 the tenant may not make any structural changes to the front and show window part and to the sidewalks without the written consent of the landlord, which written consent shall not be unreasonably withheld. ’ ’

On December 9, 1954 plaintiff and Tracco entered into the lease under which the plaintiff bases this suit. The lease in describing the premises demised recites “ the said store and basement described (i.e. cross-hatched) in Schedule A hereto annexed.” Schedule A is a large diagram of the tract of Tracco and also of some detail on the store properties. On the diagram is an area shown as- parking fields. The several parcels built up and rented or for rent and an area designated sidewalk ” running approximately as hereinbefore described. There are no dimensions given for the sidewalk except that the plot plan is drawn to scale of 1 inch to 50 feet. The parking area as set out is clearly shown. In the body of the lease no mention whatever is made of the sidewalk. However, the parking field is referred to in paragraph 54 and is as follows: “ 54. Landlord hereby covenants that it will provide parking space, substantially as indicated on the plan hereto annexed and marked Schedule A, for use in common by the Tenant, Tenant’s patrons and such other tenants of Landlord, the sub-tenants, licensees and concessionaires, if any, of such other tenants occupying space in the said retail shopping development being constructed by the Landlord, and that such parking space will be in effect at the time of the commencement of and during the term of this lease. The Tenant shall not be obliged to pay any part of the cost of maintaining, operating and managing said parking space.”

The parking field and the sidewalk have been erected substantially as shown on Schedule A annexed to the lease. The plaintiff entered into possession of the property and erected a large sign with letters approximately three feet in height facing the parking field. Although its business comes to it both from the entrance on Hempstead Turnpike and from the direction of the parking field, the principal business comes from the parking field area. The plaintiff claims that it has the right to have the sidewalks open freely for passage of people from one end to the other and that it has the right to have the parking field open in its entirety and unused for the sale of merchandise. It claims [557]*557that four things have occurred which are contrary to the plaintiff’s rights. First, a large trailer truck was brought up by Klein’s and parked close to the curb nearest to the Klein store. This parking was along the north-south sidewalk but still directly behind the plaintiff’s place of business. The trailer truck was left there without the towing tractor for weeks and was used as an additional selling base for Klein’s merchandise. It was loaded with garden wares. A cash register was installed and salesmen operated in and about the truck, on the sidewalk and the territory immediately adjacent. Klein’s thus conducted the business of selling merchandise to customers who came along. This truck pursuant to a temporary agreement while this suit was pending, was later moved around to the south of the Klein store. It is now near the east-west sidewalk and is devoted to a new use. A machine shop was set up in the truck, lawn mowers were strewn about and the truck is used as a lawn mower repair shop, all operated by Klein’s.

The second is the erection of a canopy over the entire width of a portion of the sidewalk next to Klein’s store and along its west side. On this sidewalk Klein’s was storing and selling garden materials, such as fertilizers, wheelbarrows, lawn mowers and garden furniture, consisting of chairs and tables, grills and the like. This canopy was erected for the purpose of keeping the materials under it dry. The low canopy cover in a limited way obstructs the sign of Simco so that there are portions obscured from certain parts of the sidewalk and of the parking field.

Third, at night to obviate the need for carting the goods under the canopy back into Klein’s store, a barricade was erected along the west side at the curb line and across each end of the canopy so that people could not get in on the sidewalk at that time. This barricade was taken down in the morning between 9 and 10 o’clock and was erected each night sometime from 9:30 to 10 o ’clock. It remained in place all night. When it is in place one cannot get through. There have been times when the weather was particularly inclement that the barriers were erected alongside the sidewalk but the ends were not closed off. At such times, except for the interference created by the goods offered for sale, and the customers attending, there was access over the sidewalk.

Fourth, Klein’s has utilized the sidewalk very fully as a merchandising adjunct of its store. The one sidewalk which is approximately 10 to 12 feet wide along the south side of the building for more than half its width is occupied with things offered for sale. People who are to walk through are restricted [558]*558to the half of the sidewalk not occupied by this display of goods to the curb. At times, the customers congregate in such numbers as to make passage impossible without asking leave to get through or without passing off of the sidewalk and into the parking field to circumvent the people who have gathered.

The plaintiff’s lease requires the landlord to provide parking space substantially as indicated on the plan hereto annexed. It is claimed by defendants that the use of the word “ substantially ’ ’ permits the landlord to make other uses of the parking field area so long as there is an amount of parking space approximating that which was indicated on Schedule A annexed to the lease. The word ‘ ‘ substantially ’ ’ is construed by the court to provide some leeway for the landlord in Ms layout and construction of the field for parking but once this space has been set up for that purpose then it may not be devoted to uses other than parking.

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Bluebook (online)
14 Misc. 2d 554, 177 N.Y.S.2d 778, 1958 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2982, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/125-hempstead-turnpike-corp-v-tracco-hempstead-inc-nysupct-1958.