New York's Cooperative and Condominium Community

Habitat Magazine Insider Guide

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The structural engineer who drew up the original plans called it "the biggest and most complicated private vault job in the history of New York City." Now the 30-unit condominium The Worth Building, a former industrial loft at 73 Worth Street, had to rebuild a nearly hundred-year-old, two-story vault that covered all the underground mechanicals, waterproofing it and covering it with nearly 300 linear feet of sidewalk. The price tag was a formidable $1.6 million. But money was the least of the obstacles.

Updated Feb. 17, 2014 — The Sheffield 57, a nearly 600-unit condominium at 322 West 57th Street in Manhattan, has sued its managing agent, an engineering firm and others following the accidental discharge of thousands of gallons of heating oil after what the condo board called "a series of missteps that created a 'perfect storm'" causing $3 million in damages, cleanup costs and other expenses.

Recent news affecting co-op / condo buyers, sellers, boards and residents. This week, a 63-year-old woman in a Fifth Avenue co-op has had the same Maytag washer in her apartment for 20 years with permission and without trouble. Now the co-op board won't approve a replacement unless it's one of three hoity-toity brands. Well, lah-de-dah ... Maytag's not good enough for 'em? Let's go to court! And court may be where Trump Village West board president Igor Oberman might wind up, since a New York City Department of Investigation report accuses him of less-than-ethical things. Plus, Co-op City has an asbestos problem. Or does it?

The Antoinette learned the hard way that when it comes to co-op and condo boards, all directors need to pull their own weight and keep some people in check. For the 58-unit co-op, at 7 East 35th Street in midtown Manhattan, this meant coming out from under the thumb of a board president who convinced a board to vote to save him money at the expense of the co-op.

Sharon Roush moved into The Antoinette in 2007 but didn't get involved in board matters until co-op board president Harvey Goldman approached her to sign a petition calling for a special meeting. The purpose of the meeting? To try to rescind the new shares that had been allocated to Goldman's apartment when he and his wife enclosed a terrace to create a new master bedroom and bath.

Roush was startled. "His own agenda," she says of Goldman, "was to throw out the [other] directors."

In 1950, a young Jay Silverzweig, the owner of a plastics business, watched electricity costs take a toll on his neighbors in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Two fellow entrepreneurs, who used steam to clean rags, finally decided to get off the electric grid and worked out a cogeneration system (or CHP, i.e., "combined heat and power") that uses natural gas to produce electrical and thermal power.

More than 60 years later, those early experiments in alternative energy were lurking somewhere in Silverzweig's mind as he spearheaded the $1.5 million cogen project at the Brevoort East, a 26-story, 325-unit cooperative at 20 East 9th Street in Greenwich Village.

Recent news affecting co-op / condo buyers, sellers, boards and residents. This week, a mother and daughter living together is a "lifestyle" a condo-board president doesn't like? So says a lawsuit by the wealthy former mistress of Baron de Rothschild and their love child. Meanwhile, a condo board in South Harlem joins the ranks of those objecting to a restaurant for noise and other issues. Read a reporter's firsthand account of being trapped inside The Strand fire, an analysis of increasing "disability dog" litigation, and tricks 'n' tips for acing weird co-op boards' admission interviews. Plus: People who live glass buildings shouldn't throw stones at studies about overheated glass buildings.

The landmark court decision in 40 W. 67th Street v. Pullman (2003) set the precedent that fully established that New York State co-op boards could, within certain criteria, evict shareholders found to be "objectionable." Many jocularly call this "the nuclear option," and it should only be used as a last resort. There are options boards can take before circumstances reach that extreme point. 

But if you do need to pull a Pullman, how do you go about it?

As the second storm of the week hit New York City and its environs, some managers say calcium chloride, or sidewalk salt, is in short supply. "We are running out," said Pamela DeLorme, president of Delkap Management, based in Howard Beach, Queens. "We bought a few thousand bags before the season began, but with the frequent storms, the substance is now in short supply." Delkap obtained about 2,000 bags of salt two weeks ago.

Recent news affecting co-op / condo buyers, sellers, boards and residents. This week: Remember that deaf grandfather a couple of weeks ago in Battery Park City, where the condo board disapproved a service dog? Yeah, that dog died, but the man has another one and the board's not pursuing eviction. However, the homeowner is still pursuing an anti-discrimination lawsuit. In better news for boards, the U.S. Senate is delaying an increase in the cost of mandatory flood insurance — and speaking of which, some New York City property managers are encouraging serious disaster-prep at their buildings. Plus, it's the latest amenity: personal shoppers! Which they still don't have at Billy Joel's former co-op, now up for sale.

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