Mecca Realty Co. v. Kellogg Toasted Corn Flakes Co.

Headnote

Mecca Realty Co. v. Kellogg Toasted Corn Flakes Co., 166 App. Div. 74 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the. Supreme Court in the first judicial department, entered February 20, 1915, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict directed by the court for an amount conceded by defendant to be due the plaintiff in an action for rent. The action involved the construction of the lease between the parties. This lease was dated September 18, 1911, wherein plaintiff let to defendant for three years, beginning November 1, 1911, at the monthly rental of $1,250, the roof of the Mecca Building, bounded on the west by Broadway, on the east by Seventh avenue and on the south by Forty-eighth street, New York city, and provided: “ Said entire roof and space above the cornice thereof to be used solely for the purpose of erecting and maintaining

thereon and above the cornice thereof a sign structure for advertising sign purposes either painted or electric, or both, for the displaying of advertisements of a lawful nature of the products of the tenant. If at any time during the term of this lease a building should be erected in the plot of ground to the south, located between Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth streets and Broadway and Seventh avenue, of such a'height as to obstruct the view of the signs of the tenant as provided for herein, then the tenant may upon thirty days’ notice to the landlords in writing of its intention so to do cancel this lease, said cancellation to take effect at the expiration of said thirty days’ notice and at the end of a month, and this lease shall then be terminated.” Defendant contended that a “ sky sign ” which was erected on the plot to the south, and which, in part, obstructed the view of defendant’s sign, entitled defendant to cancel the lease, and that it did lawfully cancel the same. _J