MANHATTAN

Oct. 13, 2011 — Paul Backalenick has been the president at 24-42 Bennett Avenue, a 56-unit cooperative in the Hudson Heights section of Manhattan, for three years. Replacing an autocratic, unpopular chief executive, Backalenick brought an easygoing style, seeking out consensus, not confrontation. He has had great success in changing the tone of the talk – and in accomplishing a major capital improvement project involving the roof.

Backalenick sat down over breakfast with Habitat's editorial director, Tom Soter, to talk about life in this co-op. 

I'm the attorney for a small cooperative in downtown Manhattan. This past year, a shareholder whose apartment was on the market found a buyer who was willing to pay a very substantial price. The only problem for the co-op was that the buyer was an extremely wealthy European and, for privacy reasons, did not want to submit any financial disclosure information to the cooperative's board of directors. Moreover, because of potential U.S. tax consequences, this individual wanted to buy the unit in the name of a corporate entity.