How to Prevent Your Building from Collapsing

The Challenge

While supervising an Upper West Side condo’s Local Law 11 work, management received a communication from an apartment’s unit-owners that they had cracks in the corner of their master bedroom wall. Management inspected this situation with the building’s architect. The cracks were very deep. Subsequent probes revealed that areas of the structural steel column (that carries the load and runs vertically inside the northwest corner) were corroded and had deteriorated. A structural engineer said that if this problem was not addressed and repaired as soon as possible, the northwest corner of the building would collapse. The engineer stated that it appeared that, over the last 50 to 60 years or so, water had infiltrated the wall and eroded the steel column. Both the engineer and architect said that because of the sturdy brick and mortar construction of the building (built in 1916/17), it was currently undetectable by inspecting the exterior, as opposed to newer construction, which would have probably resulted in bricks popping out in response to the erosion.
In addition, the existing reserves did not have enough funds to pay for the total projected repair cost.

The Solution

The board engaged a second structural engineer for a peer review, had him review the first engineer’s findings, perform his own probes, and opine on the architect’s and first engineer’s specifications for repair. The unit-owners and tenants were informed of the situation in writing, and also during an informational presentation by the board, management, architect, and structural engineer. In order to pay for the northwest corner repairs, the board decided to refinance the current mortgage (technically their “term loan”), for which the bylaws require a vote and consent of at least two-thirds of the unit-owners. A special meeting of unit-owners was held and consent was obtained to approve refinancing, which the board did with coordination from management. The refinancing was completed last fall, the repairs have been underway since late summer 2015, and the project is expected to be completed this summer.

The Lesson

This serious situation was only discovered after an apartment’s unit-owners alerted the manager to look at cracks in their interior walls. Without the board’s quick response, the frequent communication between management, the board, and unit-owners/tenants – and the trust that this engenders – this could have been a calamity. The lesson for boards is that it’s important to have a property manager who is proactive and communicative and explores every issue to find its cause.