Problem Solved! For Co-ops and Condos Habitat Magazine

A relatively new 41-unit condo on the lower east side of Manhattan was plagued by leaking PTAC units in owner apartments, and it filed $500,000 dollars in insurance claims over four years. That helped pay for the fix, but over the years their annual insurance premiums doubled from $35,000 to $70,000, with the prospect of a renewal costing over $100,000. Habitat’s Paula Chin speaks with Sophie Bird, senior vp at IMA Financial Group, to find out what they did to rein in these costs and make the...

Many apartment buildings with terracotta details are beautiful to look at, but with beauty comes expense if the material needs repair. Dane Barnes P.E, partner at Joseph K. Blum, was hired to do a façade inspection at a prominent Fifth Avenue co-op and found multiple cracks on the terracotta cornice. Small cracks often signify dangerous conditions underneath. “When we see these kinds of conditions our heart sinks because we know we’re going to have to give bad news to the board.” In this epis...

Some people own multi-million-dollar apartments, others on a more modest scale, but doing laundry in a communal laundry room is one activity that levels the playing field. That makes the choice of a laundry room vendor crucial to providing a space that meets the needs of the community while at the same time a much-needed revenue source. In this episode Habitat Magazine's Carol Ott speaks to Automatic Industries president Denise Savino about user-friendly solutions for diverse demographi...

Around 1500 buildings in New York City use Con Ed steam for heating and cooling, and many are considering moving to electricity to reduce their carbon emissions. If your building has a distribution system that uses the same pipes for heating and cooling, like the Beekman Hill co-op discussed in this episode, there are steps to take and timing issues to consider. Habitat Magazine's Carol Ott speaks to Controlled Combustion president Michael Bendjouya about what those are.Thanks for listening. ...

It's not uncommon for condos with commercial space to find the owner of that space isn't contributing adequately to the shared expenses of the building. The board then finds itself doing assessments for residential owners while the commercial owner's monthly payments stay flat. The question is, how to get out of this situation without discord or a lawsuit? Avi Zanjirian, CPA and partner at Czarnowski & Beer shares how a 15-unit condo-op on Manhattan's West 3rd Street accomplished this. Ha...

Apartment buildings that are heated and cooled by centralized systems are prime candidates for technology that can monitor and adjust all the controls needed to power the systems. In this episode, Habitat’s Emily Myers talks with Robert Post, senior sales engineer at Parity, to learn how a Harlem co-op embraced this technology to lower their energy costs by monitoring and tweaking motor speeds, temperature settings and pressure set points. Thanks for listening. Subscribe to this po...