Dan's Papers - October 5, 2007 - I'll Do It, No I'll Do It

When a very successful and established Hamptons business has a long term lease that comes to an end, everybody in that particular town in the Hamptons gets nervous for one reason - the unknown. Because the business is such a staple to that particular town, residents can't imagine life without it. But all too often, Mom and Pop businesses throughout the Hamptons are forced to close up shop to allow high paying, corporate renters to come in. It's true, there are laws that banish the likes of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Dominos Pizza from moving into town, but there are plenty of other big businesses willing to pay big bucks for a Hamptons storefront. And so the question becomes, will the landlord of the building that business is housed in increase the rent so high that the only people interested in leasing it are major corporate companies who want a flagship store in the Hamptons? Or will he do the "right thing" and extend the lease another ten or twenty years, folding under social pressure. After all, it's not all about the money right?

Don't hold your breath. If a landlord can get thirty thousand a month, he is going to take it, even if it means driving out a gem like Bay Street Theatre. This is America, after all, and Capitalism is Capitalism. Or is it?

In the case of Bay Street Theatre, the Towns of East Hampton and Southampton are considering jointly buying the building where Bay Street is housed and renting it out to the Theatre below its market value, as part of the Community Preservation Fund, which we all know was never designed to save businesses we all like, but to prevent over development, protect real estate investments and keep the place looking nice and green for tourists. Nobody thought that a business would need to be saved to preserve the community, but then again, back then nobody could imagine why anybody in the world would want to get rid of such a thriving and long standing business such as Bay Street Theatre.

Bay Street Theatre is not the first business to be considered by the town for purchase just because nobody can live without it. In Amagansett, there is the Farmer's Market, which came very close to being sold for McMansion space. But today, the Farmer's Market is still there, only now the Town owns it. Yay for Communism. I mean, Capitalism. I mean, well, I guess I mean Communism, but a good kind of Communism.

Bay Street Theatre has been described by East Hampton Supervisor Bill McGintee as one of the biggest economic engines in Sag Harbor and that losing it would be like East Hampton losing Guild Hall. Which is very true, we all absolutely love Bay Street Theatre. We here just find it interesting that what we are doing is kind of commy.

Nothing has been signed and no deals have been made, but the Town has sent over an appraiser to determine the worth of the property, which is the first step in the long process of buying real estate using Community Preservation Funds as a resource.

It would seem that, in this case, Capitalism just doesn't know what's good for us out here in the Hamptons. How can you possibly let a business like Bay Street Theatre close up shop just because the rent went up? It is Bay Street Theatre for crying out loud. It is one of the most wonderful businesses to have ever landed in Sag Harbor. You can't just let something like that get squeezed out of your town. You have to do something about it.

In the good old days, doing something about it meant letting Bay Street Theatre increase ticket prices to offset the cost of the increased rent, but those good old days are long gone. With the luxury businesses of corporate America having more money than God, a willingness to close a Hamptons storefront and a desire to have one, a ticket at Bay Street would have to go up ten fold, and that just doesn't make any sense.