Update: May 28

We must move.

For the past 14 years and 5 months, we have been in our current location at 119 West 24th Street, where we rent 150,000 square feet of space. Our 15-year lease expires on December 31, 2010.

After negotiating in good faith with our current landlord, a renewal of the current lease would increase our average annual occupancy expense by at least 33%, and still retain all the risks and expenses associated with operating and maintaining the building. In addition, our landlord has not agreed to customary courtesies associated with lease renewal, thus increasing the cost of renewal even more.

All of the landlords of spaces considered by GMHC offered allowances for tenant improvements on terms and conditions and in amounts that were consistent in today’s market. Our current landlord would offer no similar concessions thereby increasing our effective cost to renew.

We have been actively looking for a new space for more than 2 years.

GMHC’s Board of Directors began the search for new space with the formation of a Real Estate Committee in December 2007. A real estate broker was hired in March 2008 and a design team in May 2008. More than 40 properties have been reviewed, over half of those were toured, and at least six were actively negotiated. Ultimately, the other property owners either decided GMHC was not a good fit or could not deliver the space to meet the 12/31/10 timeline. During the process we learned that many multi-tenanted, commercial buildings in New York City are unable or unwilling to accommodate usage different from typical office use (such as medical testing).

Over the past year, Dr. Marjorie Hill, Board Co-Chairs and the Real Estate Chair have provided regular briefings for the Board and occasional briefings for clients, the Consumer Advisory Board (CAB) and GMHC staff. Briefings with clients and the CAB occurred as early as 3/12/08 and have included meetings with Dr. Hill, the Board Co-Chairs and the Real Estate Chair. The most recent Co-Chair meeting was on 4/30. The Real Estate Chair presented to the CAB on 12/10/2009 and received a positive response. The presentation included information about the status of meals and medical services in the new location. The CAB met with the full board on Thursday, May 20. The meeting resulted in a thoughtful and helpful conversation between clients and the board that helped to understand client concerns and to clarify misinformation. Additionally, senior staff, Board Co-Chair and Real Estate Chair have been in contact with and provided updates to our partners at our current co-located medical facility.

GMHC has never provided direct medical care, but we are committed to continuing our tradition connecting clients to quality medical services all over the City as we have since our inception. GMHC will enhance our HIV Testing Services.

HIV testing is a core GMHC service. We will expand HIV testing by creating a Prevention and Wellness Center at a separate location that will be the hub of our Testing and Education Programs. Offering such services at a site different from our main headquarters is not a new concept — Planned Parenthood, AIDS Project Los Angeles and San Francisco AIDS Foundation all have successful HIV testing satellite programs. This will allow for our high-risk HIV-negative clients to become engaged in educational, support and prevention services that include testing, but do not rely on testing only.

For the past 15 years, GMHC has benefited from having New York Presbyterian co-located with us on West 24th Street. While only a small number of our clients (fewer than 200) use those services, for each of those individuals this is a critical component of their medical care and we are committed to assisting them with the continuation of their care. We are exploring the possibility of a joint search in the Chelsea area to continue this long-standing and successful partnership with New York Presbyterian. GMHC has a 70% connection-to-care rate for persons who test positive and get into medical treatment. Our clients select their medical provider from a robust list. Some of our clients elect to go to the present co-located medical services on the first floor, while many elect to go to Callen-Lorde, Bellevue and facilities outside of Manhattan.

In the coming months we will work with all of our clients to ensure that this move does not interrupt their vitally important connection to medical care.

Our new home will move our programs and our fight against HIV and AIDS into the 21st Century.

GMHC will continue to offer a comprehensive array of services to our HIV-positive clients in our main offices. Nutrition, Legal, Mental Health, Case Management, Housing Support, Vocational Training, Prevention Education, and GED programs will continue with enhanced coordination as the new space provides increased efficiencies and collaborative work environments.

Nutritious meals will continue to be offered in conjunction with other GMHC Programs and Services.

The GMHC Meals Program — a critical component of our service to hundreds of our clients — will continue to provide hot, nutritious and balanced meals. While there are challenges to replacing the industrial kitchen we have at 24th street with one that fits the restrictions at our new location, I assure you that we will be able to deliver fully nutritional and satisfying meals to the hundreds of New Yorkers that rely on us — including our Friday night meal service. The move also allows for us to create a larger, more comfortable and attractive dining room. And while we are very proud of the atmosphere we have created in the dining room at 24th Street, that space is long overdue for refurbishing. Additionally, the new location will allow us to expand our Food Pantry Program — thus providing more food to needy New Yorkers (thanks, in part, to the generosity of the Keith Haring Foundation).

Segregation or Discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated.

One highly desirable feature throughout this search has been a private GMHC entrance. Only a few of the potential locations could offer this option. A private entrance will be helpful in our transition from being the only tenant in our current location to one of many. This will also create a street level brand identity as we have at 119 West 24th Street. As anyone knows about our current elevator situation, this will reduce client wait time. This entrance will be staffed by GMHC employees — who are specifically trained to work with our clients and those seeking assistance from GMHC. Providing our staff, clients, and visitors to GMHC an entrance of their own is an unqualified benefit.

Transportation to the new location.

The closest subway system (A, C, E) is two cross-town blocks away (approximately 5–6 city blocks) from the new location. The 1, 2, 3 lines are 0.4 miles away compared to 0.2 miles at the current 24th Street location. The D, F, B, N, R lines are four cross-town blocks. While the 34th Street cross-town bus will assist clients in getting to GMHC from these subway lines, for many clients the new location will require them to walk farther than at the current location. We are very sensitive and aware of this challenge. Many of our clients will have no problem using the available public transportation system and many will continue to use Access-A-Ride. To assure that all of our clients are served, we are pursuing additional transportation options through a shuttle service.

We are not the only social service organization in the new neighborhood. The Young Adult Institute for people with developmental disabilities has been at 460 W. 34th Street for decades. The Metropolitan Community Church of New York at 446 W. 36th St. serves not only its congregants there but runs a food pantry for the homeless and a homeless shelter for LGBT youth.

We intend to resume Saturday programming at our new location.

GMHC is currently open Monday – Friday, 10:00 am – 9:00 pm. We will resume Saturday programming for working clients and family members, and design additional later evening programming for youth. At our present location, costs prohibit us from providing weekend services, and the move to a new location will allow us to serve more people.

We welcome community input.

GMHC prides itself as being an open organization that listens and responds to the concerns of our community and partners. However, as many of us know from first-hand experience, lease negotiations are sometimes sensitive and require confidential transactions. Throughout this process we have sought to deal with delicate issues with appropriate discretion, while keeping the needs of our clients at the forefront. As a result, the process has not been as transparent as it might have been, and we will strive going forward to give the CAB and other stakeholders additional opportunities for input and discussion. We believe the new location is a tremendous opportunity to channel our precious financial resources into programming, rather than into a landlord’s pocket. We promise to work with all interested parties to make our new home an undisputable win for GMHC clients.

For continued updates, visit gmhc.org. You may also contact Krishna Stone at (212) 367-1016 or via e-mail at krishnas@gmhc.org to express your concerns, support, and ideas.