Bleecker Street Tenants Corp. v. Bleeker Jones LLC

Graffeo, J. (dissenting).

I write separately because I believe that the majority’s broad rule exempting all options to renew leases from the statutory rule against perpetuities cannot be reconciled with the text of EPTL 9-1.1 (b) and is inconsistent with the analytical framework that we adopted in Symphony Space v Pergola Props. (88 NY2d 466 [1996]).

The rule against perpetuities has been codified in New York since the early 1800s (see id. at 475). It is premised on the belief that “it is socially undesirable for property to be inalienable for an unreasonable period of time” (id.). As a result,…