Mr. Friedman said the company would not break ground on either building until it has substantial lease commitments from prospective tenants.
Shelton has approved the company's plans to build two additional buildings with a total of 240,000 square feet at Reservoir Corporate Center, but this time, instead of building on speculation, substantial lease commitments will be sought before Davis breaks ground, Mr. Fiore said.
Mr. Baggaley said the lowered rating reflected "financial damage from heavy losses" over the last few years, a high operating cost structure, substantial debt, lease and postretirement liabilities and the continued pressures that the airline faced in the ultracompetitive airline industry.
While New York State officials deliberate over whether to lift a statewide moratorium on fracking for natural gas, some communities, including Sanford, have leased substantial amounts of land to gas companies in anticipation that the ban will be lifted.
Between those two cases, however, are a wide range of differences on what type of alteration constitutes a substantial violation of the lease and what doesn't.
If another substantial tenant signs a lease, the joint venture is prepared to convert the rest of the warehouse into one-story, high-ceiling office space.
She added, however, that just because a tenant has done something that would constitute a substantial breach of the lease does not by itself mean that the tenant can automatically be evicted.
For example, Ms. McGuire said, in a 1997 Manhattan case, an appeals court ruled that a tenant who had replaced all kitchen and bathroom appliances had committed a substantial violation of the lease and could be evicted.
For example, a riparian user who builds a marina in order to lease a substantial number of boat slips on a small lake might be making an unreasonable use if this causes crowding on the lake and degrades recreational use by other riparian property owners.
In another case decided last year, Ms. McGuire said, an appeals court ruled that a tenant's replacement of defective kitchen cabinets and a sink, after the landlord had refused to repair them, did not constitute a substantial breach of the lease.
Lease accounting is a significant issue at Xerox, which derives a substantial part of its revenue from gross lease payments that must be allocated between different items -- supplies, services, financing and equipment.
