Long Island Co-op Completes Four-Job Project in Record Time

Seid is the manager at Waterways at Bay Pointe, a 344-family, multi-building cooperative in the Long Island community of Moriches. The projects had been on the table for about 10 years in major discussions among the various boards. "It's only pretty much in the last two and a half years that finally we were able to spearhead this through," says Seid.

Built 28 years ago, the property consists of 26 "quad" (four apartments per building) and 59 ranch-style structures for a total of 85 buildings. The residents range from retirees and young professionals to attorneys, engineers, architects, and school superintendents.

About a year and a half ago, the nine-member board determined that the cedar siding was, in board vice president Bob Boettcher's words, "in really horrible shape. It was rotting, the previous paint jobs were peeling, and they were trapping moisture." Various methods of repair were discussed, ranging from repairing it to completely replacing it.

The board decided to undertake a costly total replacement, because, says Boettcher, "we measured how much rotted siding existed and how much work and what the cost to repair that would be. It was very close to total replacement." There were discussions about the colors. "We had great colors of the shades of grey and there were lots of discussions that we had to determine exactly how we are going to look at the very end of the job. There was more aesthetic discussions, and talk of how the siding issue was going to be presented on the building."

The property also had more than 6,000 feet of fencing that needed to be replaced with vinyl fencing, as well, as part of the siding job. In addition, there were 58 locations with second-floor decks that had railings on them that were to be replaced with vinyl.

Seid estimates that rough costs were $2 million for the siding; $160,000 for the fencing, and $20,000 per ranch and $40,000 per quad for the roofing

To pay for it, the co-op obtained a $5 million line of credit, and will also count on two assessments (the first of the $1,250 per home assessment was imposed this past January; the second one goes into effect next January). "We took the loan amount and the assessment and that not only paid for the roof siding, fencing, and railing, but it also will pay for the portion of the road replacement that we are doing, not this year but next spring," Seid says.

"For the most part, [the cost] was received very well because the people recognized that the age and the condition of what we had needed to be addressed," says Boettcher, "and there had not been any reserves put aside for 28 years."

Seid points with pride to one issue that often bedevils co-ops when repairs like these come up: the slow pace of the work. "We were pleased at the coordination of the project. There were about 90 workers on the property at all times within that seven-month period. It was impressive."

PARTICIPANTS

Harry Seid, property manager, Fairfield Properties

Bob Boettcher, board vice president

JFH Associates, roofing contractor

Craftsman's Fencing, fencing and rails contractor

Bright Water Building Company, siding contractor

Photo by Danielle Finkelstein. Click to enlarge.

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