Near Chinatown, a Co-op Rises to the Challenge

Sinking feeling

Nonetheless, such comments haven’t discouraged buyers from taking up residence in the complex, which became a cooperative in the 1980s and is located on Park Row, just south of the intersection of Worth Street and Bowery near Chinatown. The three-building, 420-unit cooperative features windows at each end of most apartments, allowing cross-ventilation and lots of light. The views are reportedly excellent, the apartments large and the maintenance low.

And now the co-op has something else to brag about: six spanking new elevators.

“The controllers were old, and the elevators kept breaking down,” says Vincent Tavernite, the site manager and an agent with Gerard J. Picaso Inc. “We changed everything, from top to bottom.”

The process started about six months before Tavernite came on board. The controllers for the elevators had been manufactured by a now-defunct company, so it was becoming harder and harder to find parts when one of the systems broke down.

Buying local

VDA, an elevator consulting firm, was hired to prepare the bid specifications, and the replacement job went to Centennial Elevator. The board agreed with the recommendation to use GAL Manufacturing controllers, which Tavernite says will make life a lot easier: “If you have an elevator down and everyone is screaming, and the manufacturer is in California or the Midwest and things have to be overnighted, that just adds to the problem — it’s better if you have someplace local. GAL is located in The Bronx, so anytime you have any problem with parts it's basically a drive to the Bronx, or you might get a call back online, sometimes the same day.”

The logistics of the job were fairly simple. Each building has two elevators, so when one was out of service the other did double duty. But it was hard on the residents who had to face crowding and delays for the 12 weeks it took to upgrade each elevator.

The nine-member board made the aesthetic, not mechanical, choices for the project — choosing the finish for cabs, for instance. “Boards are not interested in whether it’s motion control or a Galaxy controller. They left it up to me,” says Tavernite. He says Asians comprise 70 percent of the population.

Juggling act

The $1.2 million job - funded through reserves — required Tavernite to perform a juggling act: new to the job, he had to not only get up to speed on all aspects of the building, but also prepare for the elevator replacement — and supervise required Local Law 11 repairs to the building façade.

“I had the Local 11 work starting, and I am the new guy, and in my first week I am taking out one [elevator], and they have jack-hammering and dust going on. People are upset; it’s difficult for them to leave the building, they’re waiting 10 to 15 minutes for an elevator,” he notes. “So you can imagine it was a bit difficult that I was meeting a lot of shareholders for the first time under those conditions. It was a challenge.” 

Project start date: April 2012

Estimated completion date: September 2013

PROJECT 

Replacing six elevators

INVESTMENT

$1.2 million

PARTICIPANTS

Vincent Tavernite, site manager 

VDA, elevator consulting firm

Nine-member board

BUILDING FINANCIALS

Estimated market value: $92,512,000

Assessed value: $33,273,050

RECENT SALES

07/22/2013 $645,000

07/01/2013 $1,350,000

05/21/2013 $725,000