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FRIENDS Indeed
You might wonder what three Modernist buildings on the Upper East Side have to do with an organization that has historically been dedicated to preserving things, well, historical. But recently, preservation group Friends of the Upper East Side Historic District began looking into obtaining landmark status for three postwar buildings: the Manhattan House - an apartment building on East 66th Street that was the first "white brick" (or "grayish slab" to the untrained eye) building on the Upper East Side, built in 1950; Cinema I and II, built in 1962; and the Beekman Theatre and Block, built in 1952 - both of which were formerly art house theaters. Read More
In the Know
To Federation of New York Housing Cooperatives and Condominiums (FNYHC) executive director Gregory Carlson, there's a big difference between a co-op or condominium board and an informed co-op or condominium board. Carlson's unwritten job description is to eliminate examples of the former in New York. Read More
A Look Into REBNY
For more than one hundred years, The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) has been an invaluable resource for real estate professionals in New York City. More than just a trade association, REBNY has expanded over the years to include advocacy, community outreach, and educational efforts. Read More
Standard United
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 32BJ is a coalition of 70,000 doormen, superintendents, concierges, porters, cleaning personnel and maintenance workers in New York City and its surroundings. Founded in 1934, the union is as diverse as the city it serves, representing workers from 60 countries speaking 25 different languages. Many of those workers serve the city’s co-op and condo community, working to keep residential buildings running smoothly and comfortably for their occupants. Read More
Let There Be Light (and Heat, and Telecommunications)
1st Rochdale Cooperative Group Ltd. was created in 1997 when a group of New York City housing cooperatives realized that deregulation of the Federal and State electric utility industry might cause their energy costs to skyrocket. Forced into action to protect the interests of the residential cooperative community, 1st Rochdale’s new chairman and chief executive officer Allen Thurgood joined with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)–a 60-year-old trade organization of more than 900 electric cooperatives–to establish the fledgling utility company and empower shareholders to take control of their energy expenditures. NRECA supplied their technical experts on Manhattan’s power supply and helped Thurgood establish a board of directors. And the still-young utility is still working toward their original goal. "We take into account the needs of the market. What’s in it for the customer," says 1st Rochdale’s chief operating officer Greg L. Wortham about the group’s operating philosophy. Read More
Fighting the Good Fight
If New York City co-op and condo owners have a superhero, the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums (CNYC) is the one wearing the big, red cape. Founded in 1975, the non-profit organization serves as a purveyor and distributor of information for and about co-op and condo owners. It also stands tall as a powerful force in city government, lobbying for tax relief and attention to the needs of the co-op and condo community. Read More
The Supers Club of New York
When Dick Koral, created "Los Sures" in the early ‘90s, the seed was planted for the Superintendents Club of New York, a technical society to serve New York’s multifamily building maintenance personnel. Read More
National Cooperative Bank
Kings Village Corp. had mounting financial challenges. At the start of 1999, this housing co-op, one of the largest in Brooklyn, had more than half of its 777 apartments unsold. And of those, 75 were vacant. In fact, for five years, there had been no unit sales at all. On top of that, many unit owners had stopped paying their monthly maintenance, and vendors were not getting paid, putting the co-op $1.5 million in arrears. National Cooperative Bank’s (NCB) New York Real Estate Team was willing to help, but only if specific steps were taken. It would take a well-orchestrated effort to put things right. Read More
The Argo Corporation
The Argo Corporation began its operations in 1951, when Henry Moskowitz, father of the firm’s current president and chief executive officer Mark, began purchasing properties on the Upper West Side by forming syndications with other real estate partners. The initial buildings were all rentals; Argo was hired by the partnerships to manage them. "Over time, the buildings were converted to cooperative ownership by Argo," says the younger Moskowitz, "and this was the pattern of the company through the 1960s and 1970s, and the way that Argo strengthened its management business and position in the industry." Read More
Brown Harris Stevens
The reputable full-service real estate firm Brown Harris Stevens has its roots in residential and commercial real estate appraisal. It was at the forefront of management and sales during the early 1920s and 1930s when the original grand co-ops were being built. Ask any broker which are New York City’s "top" co-ops and they will list 720, 730, 740, and 770 Park Avenue; 825, 834, and 960 Fifth Avenue; the Dakota at One West 72nd Street; and One Sutton Place as the "gems "of Manhattan residences. These buildings are and have been managed by Brown Harris Stevens. Read More
The Cooperator's Co-op & Condo Expo
As the trees start greening and the last dregs of winter ice and slush melt away, it's once more time to turn our collective attention to The Cooperator's annual Co-op & Condo Expo—to be held this year on Wednesday, April 25th on three floors of the Hilton New York. Read More
New York State Bar Association
With some 72,000 members, the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is the largest voluntary statewide association of lawyers in the country, and the official organization of legal practitioners in the state. Read More
No Typical Days Work
Ask Scott Stringer to describe a typical day in his job as Manhattan Borough President and he’ll answer that there’s no such thing—and that’s the way he likes it. Read More
The Real Estate Board of New York
For most New Yorkers, the search for housing is the least favorite part of the New York experience. If the size is right, the price is wrong; if the price is right, the neighborhood's wrong. And then there's that hideous bathtub in the kitchen. In an area as popular and populous as metropolitan New York, finding a unit that meets all your needs is darn near impossible. The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) hopes to change all that. Read More
Rock of Ages
In an age of tinted-glass curtain walls, floor-to-ceiling windows, and ubiquitous vinyl siding, it may be comforting to know that the granddaddy of all building materials—natural stone, quarried from the earth and hewn by hand in some cases—is still very much relevant to building construction and architecture. Read More
Government on a Neighborly Basis
New York City’s governing structure is complex for a metropolis of 8.2 million residents—it takes a lot of people in a lot of departments and organizations to keep the city running smoothly. Some of those people (the mayor, for instance) are household names, while others are perhaps less well known. The members of the city’s community boards may fall into the second category, but the work they do for the city is no less important for being done largely behind-the-scenes. Read More
A Look at the NYSSCPA
As the oldest state accounting organization in the country, the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) holds an iconic place in the numbers realm. With 16 chapters spread out across the state, from the Adirondacks to Staten Island and of course, Manhattan, NYSSCPA has grown to 29,000 members over the course of its 110-year history. Read More
The Federation
It's not exactly the United Federation of Planets of Star Trek lore, but The Federation of New York Housing Cooperatives and Condominiums (FNYHC) is an invaluable resource for members of the global housing cooperative and condominium community based in the New York City area. Read More
The New York City Tree Trust
Whether trees are categorically lovelier than poems, as Joyce Kilmer famously suggested, is a matter of debate. If pressed, I'll take Ode on a Grecian Urn over Charlie Brown's Yuletide entry any day of the week. New Yorkers will agree, however, that there is a certain magic present when, in the asphalt jungle that characterizes the groundscape in Gotham, a tree grows in Brooklyn—or, for that matter, in Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island or the Bronx. Read More
Recognition, Credibility and Certification
With more and more people hanging out shingles as either interior design professionals—thanks partly to the popularity of television shows like Design on a Dime, Extreme Home Makeover and Trading Spaces—knowing who to hire for a job in your home or building can sometimes be a little tricky. Read More
A Look at the American Institute of Architects (AIA-NYC)
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the American Institute of Architects' first (and largest) chapter—its New York Chapter, founded in 1857. Read More
A Look at the Attorney General's Office
Most New Yorkers are familiar with New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, but how many people have heard the name Kenneth Demario before? If you’re someone concerned with co-ops, condos or any real estate issues in the city, Demario is someone you need to know. Read More
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Condominiums can provide all of the advantages of traditional homes, as well as affording other benefits such as recreational facilities, group activities and close proximity to shopping and other destination points. But the quasi-municipal nature of a condominium community means that elected representatives and property managers can have a myriad of issues to deal with in managing the neighborhood. This often amounts to amateurs dealing with decisions that a professional might handle better. Even among professional property management companies, some managers are more educated in the industry and more actively involved in their communities than others. Read More
Keeping History Alive
The Dakota. The San Remo. The Ansonia. Greenwich
Village. Gramercy Park. DUMBO. New York City and its five boroughs are home
to buildings and neighborhoods that are celebrities in their own right, and
preserving the historic character and impact of those buildings is an
important part of preserving the city's legacy for the future. One
group wholly devoted to preserving (and sometimes improving) that legacy is
the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission, the governing body
responsible for designating neighborhoods and buildings as official
historic landmarks. Read More
The Department of City Planning
Imagine the biggest three-dimensional puzzle you can. Now imagine fitting eight million people into this puzzle. Putting the pieces together takes more than just luck. It takes enormous skill, precision and foresight. Those are three attributes that the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) works hard to cultivate—it’s their job to put that puzzle together and ensure that the people, buildings and infrastructure of all five boroughs meld together as seamlessly as possible. It’s not a challenge for the faint of heart. Read More
