 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
[T] Marine Buffalo Associates12/9/2003
This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.
This matter comes before the Court on a motion by Plaintiff Marine Buffalo Associates, L.P. ("MBA") for summary judgment on its complaint for a declaratory judgment against its tenant, Defendant HSBC Bank, USA ("HSBC"). HSBC has cross-moved for summary judgment in its favor. The papers submitted in support of and in opposition to the motions are listed on the attached addendum to this decision and order. Oral argument took place on June 6, 2003, and on June 18, 2003, the Court conducted an inspection of representative telephone and electrical closets at One HSBC Center. Counsel for Plaintiff and Defendant were present during the inspection. The Court now renders its decision.
Upon consideration of the contentions raised, the Court denies the motion and grants the cross motion.
BACKGROUND
The dispute stems from the use by HSBC of telephone & electrical closets at the building commonly known as One HSBC Center ("the Center") to house certain equipment. MBA, a New York limited partnership, is the current owner of the Center, which is located in downtown Buffalo (Gaglione Affid. 5). HSBC's predecessor in interest, Marine Midland Bank, entered into a forty (40) year lease with MBA's predecessor in interest, CC&F;Buffalo Development Co. ("CC&F;) in 1972. The Lease was executed prior to construction of the Center (see Exhibit 3 [Lease]), and the parties have since entered into at least nine (9) modifications. HSBC is a "full floor" tenant, i.e. on any floor of the Center on which it is present, it leases the entire floor (Falzone Affid. 15). Although the record is not clear on this point, apparently HSBC rents floors 7 through 27 and floor 38 of the high rise Tower at the Center, along with two floors in the basement and every floor in the lower rise wings of the Center.
By letter dated May 10, 2000, MBA requested that HSBC remove certain items ("the subject equipment") from all "telephone and electric closets" serving floors 7 through 27 and 38 (hereafter "the Closets") (see Exhibit 15). There are two Closets on most floors of the Center. The Closets house both electrical and telecommunications wiring, "with the high voltage electrical side of the closet separated from the low voltage [telecommunications] side by a partition wall." The side for telecommunications in which HSBC houses the subject equipment measures approximately 10 feet long by 55 inches or 4' 7" wide (Exhibit 53 [report of MBA's expert, Randall Plimpton of Riser Management Systems, L.P.] at 7; see also Appendix C [drawings of typical closet layout with and without HSBC equipment, showing telecommunications side to be four feet two inches wide from wall to wall]). According to MBA's expert:
" * ll but two of the [Closets] on floors occupied by HSBC Bank contain telecommunications equipment. All but four [Closets] contain a 19-inch floor-standing equipment rack that supports either 'active' electronic equipment (i.e. multiplexers, hubs and routers), 'passive' equipment (patch panels), or a combination thereof *."
(Exhibit 53 at 8). The equipment racks, which are standard size for the industry (see Plimpton EBT at 106), are 7 feet tall and 19 inches wide (Exhibit 53 at 2, Appendix A).
The May 2000 letter from Stephen Fitzmaurice, the Property Manager for MBA, ordered HSBC to remove the subject equipment from the Closets because the Closets were "common area space".
"The telephone and electric closets in the building are common area space. More specifically, the space in these closets allows for the distribution of telecommunication a
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 New York Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|