By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — Roosevelt Island's Main Street is getting all spiffed up.
The two-mile long, 800-foot wide sliver of land in the East River that is home to 12,000 residents and workers got its first Duane Reade and Starbucks four years ago, but following an influx of 5,500 new apartments, residents have been clamoring for more shops and services.
They might finally get them now that the state authority that runs the island, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, has announced that two developers — Hudson Companies Inc. and Related Companies — will be taking on the master lease of 34 shops on the the island's retail corridor, which has 100,000 square feet of shops. Roughly 25 percent of these shops are currently vacant.
"For far too long, Roosevelt Islanders have been deprived of the vibrancy and convenience that Main Street should offer," State Assembly Member Micah Kellner said in a statement. "By implementing a master lease for Main Street's store fronts, Islanders can finally get the kind of retail services they want and deserve."
The Hudson/Related team has already developed six buildings on the island since 1997 and brought in seven retail stores, including the Duane Reade and the Starbucks.
They expect to start work on the retail corridor by July 1, but will first sit down with residents, store others and others to get input on the changes.
"We want to have a dramatic impact on how retail is experienced on Main Street," Related Vice President Kimberly Sherman Stamler said in a statement. "We are going to be looking at upgrading the storefronts, signage, street furniture and displays. And we plan to hold all of our tenants to a very high standard with their products and displays."
The island has been undergoing other upgrades as well.
Last year saw the reopening of its refurbished iconic tram, and the construction of FDR Four Freedoms Park on the southern tip of the island — a park designed by architect Louis Kahn in 1973 to memorialize the island's namesake, Franklin Delano Roosevelt — is projected to be done by 2012.
