Near Chinatown, a Co-op Rises to the Challenge
Chatham Green replaced six elevators
Aug. 14, 2013 — When Chatham Green was built in 1961, it was a striking departure. “The most aesthetically ambitious unified assemblage of high-modern buildings in the city,” wrote the architecture critic Francis Morrone some years later. The complex, built in 1961, now seems to have as many admirers as detractors of its design.
“I really like the shape of this building, and I've always wondered what it's like to live there,” writes one observer on the website Wired New York. “It looks very high-density.” But another blogger counters: “Reminds me of a[n Anthony] Burgess-inspired dystopian future vision, circa 1960. Horror show.”
Sinking feeling
Nonetheless, such comments haven’t discouraged buyers from taking up residence in the complex, which became a cooperative in the 1980s and is located on Park Row, just south of the intersection of Worth Street and Bowery near Chinatown. The three-building, 420-unit cooperative features windows at each end of most apartments, allowing cross-ventilation and lots of light. The views are reportedly excellent, the apartments large and the maintenance low.
And now the co-op has something else to brag about: six spanking new elevators.
“The controllers were old, and the elevators kept breaking down,” says Vincent Tavernite, the site manager and an agent with Gerard J. Picaso Inc. “We changed everything, from top to bottom.”
The process started about six months before Tavernite came on board. The controllers for the elevators had been manufactured by a now-defunct company, so it was becoming harder and harder to find parts when one of the systems broke down.
Buying local
VDA, an elevator consulting firm, was hired to prepare the bid specifications, and the replacement job went to Centennial Elevator. The board agreed with the recommendation to use GAL Manufacturing controllers, which Tavernite says will make life a lot easier: “If you have an elevator down and everyone is screaming, and the manufacturer is in California or the Midwest and things have to be overnighted, that just adds to the problem — it’s better if you have someplace local. GAL is located in The Bronx, so anytime you have any problem with parts it's basically a drive to the Bronx, or you might get a call back online, sometimes the same day.”
The logistics of the job were fairly simple. Each building has two elevators, so when one was out of service the other did double duty. But it was hard on the residents who had to face crowding and delays for the 12 weeks it took to upgrade each elevator.
The nine-member board made the aesthetic, not mechanical, choices for the project — choosing the finish for cabs, for instance. “Boards are not interested in whether it’s motion control or a Galaxy controller. They left it up to me,” says Tavernite. He says Asians comprise 70 percent of the population.
Juggling act
The $1.2 million job - funded through reserves — required Tavernite to perform a juggling act: new to the job, he had to not only get up to speed on all aspects of the building, but also prepare for the elevator replacement — and supervise required Local Law 11 repairs to the building façade.
“I had the Local 11 work starting, and I am the new guy, and in my first week I am taking out one [elevator], and they have jack-hammering and dust going on. People are upset; it’s difficult for them to leave the building, they’re waiting 10 to 15 minutes for an elevator,” he notes. “So you can imagine it was a bit difficult that I was meeting a lot of shareholders for the first time under those conditions. It was a challenge.”
Project start date: April 2012
Estimated completion date: September 2013
PROJECT
Replacing six elevators
INVESTMENT
$1.2 million
PARTICIPANTS
Vincent Tavernite, site manager
VDA, elevator consulting firm
Nine-member board
BUILDING FINANCIALS
Estimated market value: $92,512,000
Assessed value: $33,273,050
RECENT SALES
07/22/2013 $645,000
07/01/2013 $1,350,000
05/21/2013 $725,000