New York City, port authority extend leases

New York City, port authority extend leases    The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and New York City have signed lease extensions on major marine terminals on Staten Island and in Brooklyn.
   Under the deals announced Thursday, each entity was a landlord in one deal and a tenant in the other:
   ' On Staten Island, the city will extend the port authority's lease for the 202-acres at Howland Hook on Staten Island through June 30, 2058. The city owns the land, which is leased by the port authority and home to one of the port’s major container facilities, operated by New York Container Terminal.
   ' The port authority has agreed to lease to the New York City Economic Development Corp. (NYCEDC) Piers 11 and 12 in the Brooklyn-Port Authority Marine Terminal for 20 years, with three lease extension options that extend through 2058. The port authority owns the piers and NYCEDC, which opened the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal on Pier 12 in 2006. Some of the biggest cruise ships visiting the port, including the Queen Mary II, have called at the facility.
   The port authority said the lease extension at Howland Hook gives it long-term strategic control of the container terminal and will allow it to make major capital investments of $110 million to benefit the container terminal, including state-of-good-repair projects and channel deepening.
   New York Container Terminal has also studied building a high-density container facility adjacent to its existing terminal, and a long-term lease on the existing terminal may be essential if that $330 million to $350 million project is ever to be built.
   Two years ago, the port authority opened a $26 million ship-to-rail cargo transfer facility. During its first year in 2008, the facility handled more than 44,000 containers by rail and removed about 70,000 trucks from the road. The rail facility required the reactivation of the Staten Island Railroad, rehabilitation of a rail bridge over the Arthur Kill, and construction of a new rail link in New Jersey to allow trains to have access to the national rail freight network.
   The Brooklyn deal will also allow NYCEDC to extend a sublease to Phoenix Beverage, a distributor of imported beer and other beverages. Until recently, Phoenix received its product by containership in New Jersey. The cargo was then trucked to Queens for distribution. The company has closed its New Jersey operations and is receiving its cargo in Brooklyn at Pier 7 in Brooklyn, eliminating about 200,000 truck trips a year. The city said by leasing Pier 11, Phoenix will expand its operations, adding 75 to 100 jobs.