REPLACING WINDOWS, P.2

The Commission, however, rejected Skyline's proposal for Windsor Tower (below; click to enlarge, click again to close) and asked the company for design modifications. It also asked the board to get an alternative fiberglass window frame designed by Panorama Window. The board did so, though Panorama's model cost about twice as much as Skyline's. In March 2008, after yet more modifications, the commission approved both the aluminum and fiberglass frames.

Despite the back-and-forth, Oswald Bertolini, the namesake company's owner, praises the commission. "They're committed, they're knowledgeable, and in general I think they add a lot of value to the city." Adds Gilbert, "I was impressed by how serious, well-informed and busy the commission was. … If people do value the look of their city, someone has to decide what to protect and what to allow."

Now it was time to sell shareholders on the idea. The board informed them they could get a better price from the manufacturers if the co-op could promise a large order. About 250 shareholders opted for Skyline's aluminum model over the Panorama's fiberglass model, and plunked down a 50 percent deposit for every $3,000 window before the sign-up deadline of January 31, 2009.

Scaffolding began to rise in late April, and the $3.5 million job is scheduled for completion this fall. Helping immeasurably, say the board and the architect, were the co-op's managing company, Tudor Realty Services, and the building's super, Bert Hernandez. "Bert knows the building inside-out," says Bertolini. "When it came time to sign the contracts, for instance, there was a discrepancy about the number of windows. Bert was able to come up with an exact count."

If she had to do it over again, Gilbert says she would do one thing differently. "I might have made more of an effort to get the other buildings at Tudor City involved." If they had come on board, it would have increased the number of windows and lowered the cost per unit.

400 EAST 17th STREET, BROOKLYN

When the co-op board at an 84-unit, postwar building in Brooklyn's Ditmas Park neighborhood (at right; click to enlarge, click again to close) got ready to tackle window replacement in 2007, the big issue was how to afford it. For this middle-class, ethnically diverse home to a mixture of young couples, families and retirees, a high-end job was not an option. And while the co-op had a $200,000 reserve fund, the board was reluctant to tap into it for the window project.

"Typically, if it's a long-term project, you should finance it and pay it over time so you can keep your cash," says Evette Caze, a municipal-bond analyst who serves as the board's treasurer. "You want cash for day-to-day projects and emergencies."

Yet the existing windows, says board president Devin Rice, an attorney, "were not properly installed, and they were hard to open and hard to clean. Some apartments were drafty and cold. The windows were not holding heat, so it was like throwing money away."

Following some research, the board sought a low-interest loan from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). It took bids from architects who could perform the necessary energy audit and loan application, and hired the Queens company Blanco Design.

"We analyzed the whole building — the boiler, windows, lighting, anything that uses energy," says Socorro Acosta, president of Blanco. "Their windows were a huge energy waster. They also had leaky valves in the radiators, and the boiler had to be recalibrated. Altogether, the building needed about $460,000 worth of improvements."

The windows were top priority. Once the co-op qualified for a $300,000 NYSERDA loan with one percent interest, it was given two years to reduce its energy use by 20 percent. If it succeeds, it will receive a reward of $750 per unit.

With the loan guarantee in hand, the board followed its architect's recommendation and settled on no-frills, double-pane, thermal windows with aluminum frames manufactured by another Queens company, Crystal Windows. After taking five bids and interviewing three contractors, the board sent its super and property manager to job sites to inspect the work of the three finalists. The board eventually chose New York Windows & Doors of Long Beach, Long Island.

"They weren't the cheapest," says Rice, "but we liked the fact that they were local and they could make multiple deliveries [of materials] so we didn't have to find a lot of storage space."

The installation process went smoothly, thanks to close oversight by the architect; the property manager; and the building's super, Charles Pulliam.

"Make sure the super is there to troubleshoot and supervise and work with the contractor," Rice advises. "And let shareholders know there's going to be some inconvenience. Scheduling is important, too. The contractor let us know which day they were coming in, and they were in and out of each apartment in three to five hours."

And he adds one final, highly important point: "Make sure you have a good architect to do the energy audit for NYSERDA. Everything will depend on that study."

Adapted from Habitat June 2009. For the complete article and more, join our Archive >>