20210826 Communication to Armory tenants RE Armory Use Occupancy Agreements and the City's plan for the Armory — File 212311

Good afternoon, I've fielded many questions from Armory tenants over the past week about the use and occupancy agreements forwarded to you. I've received calls from members of the public concerned about the Armory and have been forwarded social media posts that relate to the Amory, its tenants, and the future. This email will hopefully clarify the City's approach and address some of the concerns you have.  None of the Armory tenants are being evicted at this time. When the City took over the property, your leases with the previous owner were no longer in effect and you all automatically became month-to-month tenants. The intention of the use and occupancy agreements is to provide you with greater stability than the month-to-month relationship. The City offered the option of a six-month use and occupancy agreement going through the end of the year. This is a temporary initial measure while the work to transform the Armory into an arts use begins.  The City is working on a long-term plan to permanently establish the Somerville Armory as a community resource for the arts. Because the building was taken to house and support arts uses, legally it must ultimately be used for that. The building is also now a public asset, meaning occupancy must be fair, equitable, benefit the public generally, and adhere to public procurement laws. This plan will take time and has three distinct elements. o Building Systems Evaluation. You have all graciously allowed our engineers and consultants to tour your spaces so that we could measure the facility from top to bottom and evaluate the major building systems. This information will allow us to develop a thoughtful long-term plan to address capital facility needs of the Armory. o Future of the Amory and the Arts. The City will be launching a public process to get community input on the future arts function of the building. We need to better understand how to maximize the venue for programming that support the arts, Somerville artists, and the public's desire to engage with the arts. o Long-term Property Management. The City is evaluating approaches to manage the facility on a day-to-day basis. The City is subject to public bidding laws whenever it purchases goods, services, or when it leases real property to tenants. Our evaluation will focus ways that we can efficiently manage the building directly or by contract with a facility manager.   Once this process is complete, the City will need time to hire staff or a management entity and begin implementation of the resulting plan. We anticipate that this work will carry on through the remainder of the year. But it's possible that it will take longer. This will take some time, and for this reason, the use and occupancy agreement states that the City may extend the agreement as the City gathers resident feedback and creates a final plan for the use of the Armory. There is no intention to ask any tenants in good standing to leave in the near future or before the community process completes and the implementation of future uses gets underway, which could very well include maintaining current arts occupants.  I continue to be your primary contact for any questions related to the Armory. The City has every intention to ensure tenants remain fully informed and experience the least

disruption possible as we work to achieve community goals to establish a public arts center serving the full community. Please continue to direct all questions, thoughts, or concerns to me. Don't hesitate to reach out by phone ([phone removed]) or by email. While some have already scheduled time this week to speak with me, I'm free tomorrow between 4:30 and 7:00pm if you'd like to arrange a meeting time. If you haven't already, please remember to sign your use and occupancy agreement and return it to the City as soon as possible. Warmest regards, Tom