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5 East 57th Street
New York 22, N.Y.

June 19, 1947

Dear Mr. Seligman:

I wish to inform you of a telephone conversation I just concluded with Mrs. James C. Lewis, the owner of this building. She told me that our attorney, Mr. Robbins, had a telephone conversation with her, but since she did not call upon her attorney to have similar discussions with us in connection with our lease, she did not want to talk to him.

To make it brief, on the one hand she is making appointments with all the tenants of this building in order to arrive at a solution to the renting problem. She claims that [[strikeout]] they are [[strikeout]] she is losing money heavily and unless substantial increases were agreed upon, she could not afford to hold on to the property any longer, which brought her right up to point number two.

According to her, an organization of national importance is actually negotiating for the purchase of this property and she has to come to a decision within the next thirty days. She added that in case her conversations with the present tenants were unsatisfactory, she would of course sell out with the result that all of us would be out on the street.

All I did was listen in and finally told her that I did not have any authority whatever to make any decisions in this matter, that I had to communicate with you in Europe. She wound up her monologue by requesting that I get in touch with you immediately and keep her informed of your answer. To my timid inquiry as to what rental she would consider as satisfactory, she visualized the figure of between $10,000 or $12,000.— for our floor, subject to discussions.

I phoned Mr. Robbins immediately and he advised me that should Mrs. Lewis telephone again to just tell her that only you or he is authorized to act in this matter, that both of you were in Europe and that he would be very glad to discuss this matter with her at his office anytime after August 1st.

Mr. Robbins, whose departure by the way had been delayed by a seamen's strike, will in all probability leave tomorrow morning and will take up this matter with you in Paris.

May I call to your attention also that even should the present owners dispose of this building, we still would have the right, according to present rent laws, to remain in the building for six months after the expiration of our lease, that is February 29, 1948.

Mr. Germain Seligman
%Seligmann & Cie.
23 Place Vendome
Paris, France