Powerful Partnerships: 142 East 71st Street and Gerard J. Picaso Inc.
142 East 71st Street
July 17, 2014 — In 1980, the co-op board president of 142 East 71st Street asked Gerard J. Picaso if he was interested in talking to the seven-person board about managing the newly converted, 42-unit building. Picaso recalls that he had a "great" interview, but afterward, the president confessed to the agent that there was no way the tony East Side board would hire the young, witty manager with the bushy hair and thick mustache. They were more comfortable with the white-gloved elegance and low-key style of a larger, more established firm.
A year went by, and the president called Picaso. "I don't care what you look like or the size of your firm," he said. "We can't go on like this. We hate the people we're dealing with. The management is terrible. We want to hire you." Thirty-five years later, Picaso, the president of Gerard J. Picaso Inc., is still personally handling the building.
"This was only our third co-op," recalls Picaso, who had been managing rentals since 1971. When the agent took over 142 East 71st, also known as 975-983 Lexington Avenue, he found that the foyer and lobby needed refurbishing. Picaso brought the board estimates of the work. They were astonished. The price was half of what the previous manager had projected. "They were being robbed," Picaso says bluntly.
Key to Longevity
"Suddenly, things got more efficient," says Barbara Sproul, who took over as co-op board president soon after Picaso (pictured) arrived. The lesson the board has learned after three decades with the same agent:. "If you have somebody really good, you let him do what he does, and you relax and enjoy it."
What is the key to longevity in a management-board relationship? "Honesty –– and personality," says Picaso, who still trades quips with the board, which long ago gave up the idea of white-glove perfection. "He is funny, which, God knows, is important," says Sproul, still president after all these years. "If you're talking about parapet walls and piping, you need to have someone who understands the relative importance of such things. A little perspective that this is all in service of quality of life. That would be the point. This is our home. It's about the people. Not the pipes."
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