White Roof Coating: The Seville

Seek and ye shall find: the board discovered NRG, a “cool roof” white epoxy coating that promised to extend the life of the roofs another 10 years and cut their summertime energy bills – for a quarter of the cost. The board signed off at a late-September special meeting; a month later, the work was complete. “I’ve had two townhouse committee meetings where I met with shareholders, and there have been no complaints of roof leaks,” says Chapman Jenkins. “We feel confident that we made the right decision.”

NEIGHBORHOOD

Bayside, Queens

VALUE

RECENT SALES

12/29/11: $285,000

12/7/11: $325,000

8/31/11: $650,000

PROPERTY TAXES

Estimated Market Value: $20,299,000

2011/12 Taxable Value: $7,969,302

THE VISION THING

Located at 18-15 215th Street, The Seville is part of The Towers at Water’s Edge, an enclave of three co-ops overlooking Little Neck Bay in tony, ethnically diverse Bayside. Each contains a 17-story high-rise and a cluster of townhouses. “It’s a very quiet community,” says board secretary Felicia Chapman Jenkins, who has lived there nine years. “It’s really set onto its own, and yet it’s a community where people are basically middle-class or upper-middle-class.”

So despite the co-op’s luxurious trappings, this board knows it must stretch its dollars to the fullest. They expect NRG, made by the protective-coating manufacturer EPOX-Z, to last as long as a brand-new roof, but it’s so new, Chapman Jenkins says, “it has not been used for 10 years by anyone.”

But drawing on her experience from a career at the city Housing Authority, she and the board did careful research before taking the plunge. “We felt very safe in the fact that we thought this was the best avenue to go,” she says.

BUILDING INVESTMENT

PROJECT

Cost: $60,000

• Flashing and drain repairs
• Application of NRG epoxy roof coating for nine townhouse buildings (18 units) and portions of the high-rise roof. The coating seals the roof and repels water.
• NRG has environmental benefits: because of its white color, it reflects more sunlight than a traditional dark roof, lowering interior temperatures by up to 12 degrees on a hot summer day and reducing peak cooling demand by up to 15 percent. Also, it contains no toxic solvents.

CONTRIBUTORS

Dennis Cohen, National Roofing Corporation
Felicia Chapman Jenkins, board secretary
Yves M. Martinez, Metro Management

Began in October 2011 and completed in November.