2005 Nov
2005 Nov Vol. 25, No. 11
Focus on...Building Maintenance
Alwyn Court
If you want to tour some of Manhattan’s most impressive apartment house architechture, a trip to the Upper West side is a no-brainer. There, you can view such buildings as The Osborne, the Beresford and the Van Corlear, all known for their mammoth scale and often imposing reputations. Read More
Capital Budgeting and Planning
Like most companies, co-ops and condos have two important, yet distinct budgets which allow boards and owners to manage the day-to-day and long-term financial requirements of their buildings. The operating budget includes recurring expenses such as salaries, taxes, utilities, insurance and maintenance items. The previous year’s expenses are generally a good indicator for the next year’s budget. Read More
A Super Club
Nearly every residential building in the city has one—they’re an integral part of all your building systems, a direct line of communication between your residents, your manager, and your board. They’re on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They know things nobody else knows, and can do things nobody else can do. They’re building supers, and they’re the backbone of the city’s thousands of multi-family buildings—co-ops, condos, and rentals alike. Read More
Change is Good
David Sack has lived in the West Village John Adams apartment building since 1998. The building is a 21-story, 404-unit, white-brick apartment complex built in 1963 and converted to a cooperative in 1980. Read More
In the Drink
Plumbing is one of those things we take for granted yet without it, we might as well be back in the Stone Age. With dozens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of people living in individual co-op and condo complexes, the importance of well-maintained indoor plumbing grows exponentially. Read More
Who’s Responsible for This?
Do you know what your problem is? More importantly, do you know if it’s actually your problem? In the world of condos and co-ops, understanding who is responsible for what in an apartment or in a building’s common areas isn’t always clear to apartment owners or shareholders. During the process of purchasing a condo unit or shares in a co-op, buyers are often so engrossed in the buying process itself that they don’t invest the effort needed to understand the ins- and-outs of ownership. This can lead to confusion, even anger, when the need for repairs starts popping up. Read More
Get Smart
Technical advances are being made in just about every area of our lives, and it’s no wonder that residential buildings are taking advantage of what’s available to make life better, simpler and more economical. More and more buildings are being built from the ground up with “intelligent” wiring and integrated operating systems, and existing buildings are getting in on the act as well, upgrading their communications, security, and indoor environmental systems to improve value and convenience for residents. Read More
The Heat is On
There are worse places to be than New York City in the winter — Minneapolis, for example, or Anchorage. Thanks to the North Atlantic current, the Big Apple doesn’t tend to freeze as hard as some other northern cities, but it still gets darned cold, and if your building suffers from heating problems, darned cold is cold enough. Most managers and board members tend to leave heating issues to their supers or building maintenance staff, but when the pipes are hissing and residents are up in arms and suffering from hypothermia, it can be helpful to understand what the problem is and how it might be fixed. Read More
The Fifth Wall
“Up On the Roof” is the title of a famous 1960s song by The Drifters about two New York inner-city lovers who go up to the roof just to get away from the “hustling crowd.” There’s a lot of romantic connotation to New York City’s rooftops—but how many people really know, or care, what’s up there? Read More
