• Nearing Door-Hardware Upgrade: We expect the door-hardware contractor will have all the parts needed to begin upgrading door chimes, door knobs, door-knob plates (surrounding the door knob and bottom lock), and kick-plates by early September. We will need your doors to be opened for us during that work, and we will soon be sending you a schedule of work to begin the process of coordinating that with you. Locks and lock cylinders will not be replaced due to the cost and difficulty. Therefore nobody will need new keys. About 10 doors in our building have existing hardware on them that is in the way of the new rectangular door-knob plates, and will get a small rosette instead, similar to what most doors have now, but in silver to match the new hardware. These choices were made to save approximately $30,000 for the building in additional door/locksmith work and we are confident the finished result will be both cost effective and attractive
• Hallway Carpet has arrived: The carpet we ordered for the hallways (back in January!) has arrived at our contractor's warehouse. however we want to wait until after the door hardware is done before we install the carpet. This is to avoid having the door-hardware work accidentally damage the new carpet. As of current plan, we are hoping to begin carpet installation in September, if possible
• Security Cameras Installed on All Floors: Our camera system was upgraded to include a pair of cameras on each of our residential floors for added security and so that any damage done to our new walls/doors/floors will be traceable and can be billed to the appropriate unit instead of coming out of our co-op's repair budget. Additional cameras were added to the lobby level and garage, and a much-upgraded recording system was put in place.

New Exterminator Company: "Dial-a-bug" is our new exterminator service company, operating on the same twice-a-month schedule as our last company. We made the switch in an attempt to find a contractor that is as responsive to our building's needs as possible. In our first cycle, as some of you noticed, the timing we are used to was not successfully communicated to the new contractor and we are working with them to make sure we all know the correct time-frame for their bi-monthly visits. Sorry for the inconvenience to those of you who were affected by this miscommunication. It was not the new contractors' fault.

New Windows in the Garage: As we have more residents than ever using our garage space due to our very successful bike-parking program, we are happy to announce that Tony, our super, who is also a professional window glazier, has completed our garage-window replacement project, letting a great deal of additional light into the garage and cleaning up the overall look of the space. There are no more blocked/cracked windows and debris around them has been cleared. The board is looking into the possibility of turning off some of our fluorescent garage lights near the window wall during the day on a timer to save on our monthly electric bill, which could, over time, more than pay for the modest cost of this project. Stay tuned! 

Exterior Repair Project Moving Forward: Our largest building project to date - more than twice as big as our boiler replacement and hallway renovation combined - will be our exterior repair. Engineers have submitted plans, bids have been sought, a contractor has been selected, and we're in the process of securing permits and finalizing documents. In the meantime, the board has selected a contractor to remediate the asbestos found in a few locations on our roof, which must be taken care of before the main project can begin. The board has also selected a separate contractor to monitor the air during the asbestos work, as required by law. This is the same procedure we followed just prior to our boiler replacement. The board has done its best to find the most affordable and quality contractors and materials for this project. The cost is still significant and will be discussed at future shareholder meetings. Construction work is expected to begin this fall barring any unforeseen delays, beginning with the street-side of our building, which will coincide with the installation of a sidewalk-bridge above our sidewalk frontage.

Sprinkler System Installed: As our garden committee continues to green our many gardens, we have installed an in-ground automatic sprinkler system on our street side, to protect our vegetative investments. This replaces the hose-with-holes-in-it method previously used by our staff to water our street-front garden spaces, and is thus a significant improvement for our building. A similar system is being discussed for the back-yard and side-garden spaces in the future.

Garden Improvements Continue: Our back garden is flourishing with activity as the garden committee presses ever-forward with their many plans for our shared out-door space. The inner-course of benches were removed allowing for more active play areas while still maintaining ample sitting areas. More benches may be removed/reconfigured in the future, based on a forthcoming master-plan for the re-design of the garden that will balance the many uses of the garden space. In the meantime, many new plantings fill the existing soil areas and a new tool-shed and donated hammock are now in place. Limited composting is being done on a trial basis, and visual improvements are planned for the garbage-bag/recycling-bag holding area on the side of the building. Our first vegetables are growing on the side of the building as well, a mini-version of the planned community garden on the garage roof.

6 Vent Fans Are Being Replaced: Recently, the motors in 6 of our many bathroom vents on the roof malfunctioned. If you noticed your bathrooms getting much steamier during hot showers lately, this is the cause. Replacement of all of the broken motors is underway. Vents are on from roughly 6am to Midnight daily when functional.

Sewer Repair Complete: This was not a building project, but it sure did impact our lives for the past few months, and we're all happy it's over. Here are a few details for those who are curious: They originally came by due to back-ups in the sewer line on the corner of Foster and E 18th Street that luckily did not affect our building. They opened the intersection to find that the original sewer line, made of a half-arch of brick from the turn of the century, was still in use. The original line on our block had long ago been replaced with a pipe, but the intersection was left alone at that time due to the cost and difficulty of working around the latticework of competing underground utilities on our corner. This time the back-up was at the intersection and although they had large machines, they had to hand-dig 14 linear feet of ground to clear out the space around the sewer. They also had to remove and replace a very old gas line that was in the way of the sewer replacement. These two factors added a great deal of time to their work.

We are going to begin planning for new art in the lobby!

The idea is to set up a kind of gallery on the lobby walls to display work generated by our buildings' residents, if possible. We are considering a few options in terms of commissioning and framing work, so anyone who makes art, appreciates art, can create art frames or is just interested should make a point of joining us next month.

Hope to see you there!

The building's original 1963 boiler has been dismantled and removed. The boiler room has been cleaned, prepped, and a new concrete base has been installed. The main steel pieces of our new boiler are already on site and will be put together this week. Adjustments have been made to our mobile boiler (on the street) so as to avoid the recent over-heating and subsequent under-heating. One of the best new features of our new boiler system will be wireless thermostats in select apartments that will, for the first time in our buildings' history, let the new boiler know the actual temperature INSIDE our building to determine how much heat to create. Our old boiler (and current mobile unit) only know the outside temperature, which is a far less efficient way of determining when to turn itself on and off. We are looking forward to the likely savings we will get from less oil usage by the new more efficient system. The board appreciates all of your patience during this construction.

Hallway Project Approaching Construction Phase 2

Our hallway design is about to go to construction. A contractor has been chosen, and they have been in our building many times over the past few weeks to work with us to flesh out the details of our existing design, which includes picking specific paint colors, molding shapes, taking measurements, and planning the project timing. We are about to order the carpet for the project, which has a 13-week lead time to be manufactured to our specifications. This means that hallway renovation construction will likely take place in or around March 2011. Apartment door exteriors will all be painted, and will need to be open during their painting and 6-hour drying. We will post schedules asking for your availability or permission to have your apartment doors open for long enough for the paint to dry properly. In addition, we will be swapping your main entry door external knobs and chime/viewers with brand new silver-colored ones to match the new silver door kick plates to be installed and chrome-rimmed lighting fixtures already installed during phase 1 last year.

Art Committee (Lobby Committe, see comments)--Coming Soon!

The board is planning to gather together a committee to take charge of improving our lobby (and stairwells) with various art projects, including a replacement of the large painting in our lobby sitting area. At this point, ideas of all types are being collected. So far, current ideas include temporary installations for artists within our community to compete for and win, to more permanent installations of neighborhood historic photos, local/building artist paintings, decorative framed mirrors, etc. We are even considering framing squares of our soon-to-be historic wallpaper somewhere in our building with plaques that read "1963-2011". If you have an idea to add, please e-mail it to board@616east18.com. If you would like to join this future committee, please let us know. Are you a photographer, painter, sculptor, designer? If you know of any affordable or discount resources that could help with this type of project, we are all ears. Let's get our collective creativity in gear while improving our public spaces.

Entire Board Attending CNYC Co-Op and Condo Housing Conference 2010

In what may be a world-record, your entire 5-member board of directors, including Leon, our Building/Property Manager, are ALL attending this year's annual CNYC Housing Conference, where they will be attending seminars all day (8:30am to 4:30pm) on topics relevant to our building such as "Planning Strategies for Redecorating Public Spaces," "Solving Noise Issues: Management Role," "A Green Roof for Your Building," "Plants that Thrive in an Urban Environment," "Your Roof and Exterior Walls," and "Property Tax Q&A." These seminars are extremely helpful in keeping our board up to date with the latest in building operation, management, upkeep, improvement, and relations. What's great about sending such a large group from our building, in addition to being a result of an extremely active board of directors, is that we will then get to take many of their extremely informative seminars and subsequently compare notes, greatly increasing the amount of knowledge we bring back to our building collectively this year.

Local Law 11 and Leak Repair Work--Update

The board has selected the engineer who designed our new boiler to survey our building and create a standardized bid form for us to solicit bids from contractors to do our Local Law 11 2011 required work and repair select locations that have been found to be slowly leaking into a few 6^th floor apartments. The report is expected this winter so that we may gather bids, pick a contractor, and have actual repairs begin in the Spring of 2011. In addition, we are asking this engineer to give us information about the load-bearing capacity of our roof so that we may plan to install a green roof within the next few years, should the roof be found to be capable of supporting the weight. In addition, as the final step of this repair work, we plan to paint our roof in super-reflective and insulating white-roof paint to reduce our upper-floor heat in the summer months.

Sprinkler System to Be Installed in Front Gardens

The board has approved funding for an in-ground sprinkler system to be installed in our street-side gardens to replace the make-shift hoses with punctures currently in use. As our garden committee continues to invest in multi-year plantings, we can help protect the value of those investments by keeping them appropriately hydrated so that they survive the hot and dry days of the summer months. The sprinkler heads will be custom-installed to spray water where needed, will retract into the ground when not in use, and will be operated on a timer, all of which should improve the efficiency of and reduce some of the costs of our current garden upkeep.

The annual shareholder meeting will be Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 7:30pm in the lobby. Residents will be able to discuss all matters pertaining to the building and get an update from the board in person. This is also when the board of directors for 2010-2011 will be elected. All three current members are seeking an additional 1-year term on the board. If you are interested in being a candidate for the board this year, email the board so that we can ensure we send you instructions as soon as they are available.  

Pot Luck - May 15th - In the Back Garden

Our Garden Committee has been laying down mulch, planting, and generally beautifying the grounds of our building this spring. Come enjoy the improvements and chat with your neighbors at the building's first-ever garden pot-luck on Saturday, May 15th at 5pm. E-vites have been sent out already, asking if you can come and what you can bring. But if you have not received an e-vite, please let the board know and we will send you one!!

Fios Work Continues

There will be sporadic bouts of construction in our building to complete the Fios installation over the next few weeks. The hallway conduits and the main conduit in the north stairwell is complete, and soon the wiring will commence.

Have you Seen the Hallway Designs in the Lobby?

Four design concepts for our hallway renovation project are posted in our lobby and here as a PDF for residents to review and provide optional feedback before the design is finalized and construction begins later this year. Residents are invited to email the board to let us know your preferred concept and any other feedback you have. Of course, in any building of our size, there is bound to be a wide diversity of opinions and aesthetics, so we cannot guarantee that your preferred concept will be chosen. However, we will take all feedback into consideration as we look forward to the completion of this much anticipated project.

Leak Engineer Approved

There are numerous locations on the 5th and 6th floors where roof and wall leaks are being reported. Due to the high cost of the exterior scaffolding used to perform the work, the board is attempting to contain costs by addressing all of our leaks as one large project. As was done with the large boiler replacement project, an engineer will be brought in to create a standard work specification that multiple contractors will bid on, so we can choose our contractors in an apples-to-apples way. In addition, this means that only the engineer will need to gain access to affected apartments, instead of multiple contractors. Some of you have already been visited by contractors and/or our property manager, so please be patient as the engineer will have to take a look for himself and that should be the final intrusion before the work begins later in the year. 

Laundry Income almost Double the Old Rate

Our new laundry room is bringing in an average of $800-$900 per month in revenue for our building, as compared to our old flat-rate of $500 per month. This increased income helps us keep down maintenance and other fees, and helps us to budget for the garden committee's beautification projects. The change in income is due to a more favorable 8-year contract that the board entered into last year, and our residents' continuing use of our convenient facility.