Committee conditionally approves air-rights lease for canopies at 1555 Elm Street

The Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen Committee on Administration and Information Systems voted to approve an air-rights lease requested by Brady Sullivan to install building canopies at 1555 Elm Street, conditioned on inserting language allowing the city to revoke the lease for valid reasons.

The item was introduced as a communication from Fassen O'Neil on behalf of Brady Sullivan. Committee members first moved to approve the request, but the city's solicitor noted concerns about the draft agreement and asked for changes before final approval.

"I have looked at it and at least one version I think had a revocation clause, but I don't see it in this version that's been submitted," Mr. Sosa, the city's solicitor, said during the committee discussion. He also flagged an unresolved question about the proposed lease term, saying there had been a question whether it should be 98 years rather than 48 or 50 years.

A committee member also raised the maintenance clause, saying the current text referenced safety but did not require upkeep for aesthetics. After that exchange, the mover withdrew the original motion and reintroduced approval conditional on adding language making the lease revocable "for any reasons the city deems valid." Alderman Sapienza seconded the amended motion. The committee chair called for the vote and said the ayes had it.

The committee did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript beyond the chair's announcement that the motion passed. Alderman Thomas was noted as absent earlier in the meeting.

The committee directed that the solicitor and staff work the language out over the next two weeks before the item advances to the full board.

Provisions left unresolved in the publicly available draft include the final lease term (the transcript records a question about 98 years versus shorter terms) and whether the maintenance clause will explicitly require aesthetic upkeep in addition to safety.