Problem Solved! For Co-ops and Condos
From building repairs and maintenance, energy upgrades, insurance, lobby redesigns, accounting and financing - the challenges facing co-op and condominium board directors are endless. In this series, Habitat Magazine editors interview New York City experts to learn how problems have been solved at their client co-op and condo buildings. We take a deep dive into the issues being confronted, the possibilities for solutions, the costs, the challenges, and the outcomes. Habitat Magazine, founded in 1982, is the trusted resource for New York City co-ops and condo board directors. Visit us at www.habitatmag.com
Episodes
42 episodes
Facade Fix or Repair: One Board's Decision Journey
What approach works best with façade issues: Band-Aid repairs or full-blown replacement? Depends on each building, and 245 West 99th St, a 34-story condominium, faced this issue when inspection of 17,000 rainscreen tiles revealed cracks that co...
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Season 2
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Episode 19
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14:55
Taking the Right Steps In A Lobby Transformation
It was a dark, dim lobby with no package storage, a small mail room, faux fireplaces with two sad chairs on each side, and no curb appeal. A redesign was in order, and Marilyn Sygrove, president of Sygrove Associa...
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Season 2
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Episode 18
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12:56
How A Robotics Sleuth Came To The Rescue
Construction defects aren’t just a new building problem, they can happen anytime a co-op or condo hires someone to take hammer and nail to something. In this episode Akaash Kancharla, CEO of aRoboticsCompany...
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Season 2
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Episode 17
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13:24
Steam Traps and Orifice Plates, Oh My!
Sometimes the smallest parts can play an outsized role in reducing your building’s energy consumption. If you’ve got radiators, look no further than the steam trap or the oddly named orifice plate to see how these components, with a bit of dili...
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Season 2
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Episode 16
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13:35
How Form And Function Guides A Lobby Re-Design
Apartment lobbies come in all sizes and shapes, but one thing most have in common are mailboxes. Jonathan Baron of Jonathan Baron Interiors shares how he modernized this vital area for one co-op, inc...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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12:45
How To Overcome Building Staff Hiring Challenges
Hiring building staff can be a daunting exercise, particularly if it’s a key position such as a super or resident manager. One large Manhattan co-op faced this task head on when it fired its resident manager and turned to Spark Super, a third-p...
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19:20
Why Your Building's Best Friend Should Be Wireless Technology
Using wireless technology to monitor conditions in your building is the gold standard of catching leaks and other dangers. In this episode Jerry Kestenbaum, founder of Aware Buildings, explains how ...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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18:01
How a 1910 Co-op Conquered Elevator Retrofit Challenges
Retrofitting a building’s elevator is one challenge, but equally important are its aesthetics. Louis Lipson, a principal at Ethelind Coblin Architects, unpacks the story of a 1910 co-op that was upgrading its elevators to meet current building ...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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19:15
How An Action Plan Helped A Condo Overcome Insurance Challenges
A relatively new 41-unit condo on the lower east side of Manhattan was plagued by leaking PTAC units in owner apartments, and it filed $500,000 dollars in insurance claims over four years. That helped pay for the fix, but over the years their a...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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17:11
Terracotta Troubles: How a Fifth Avenue Co-op Faced the Challenges of Facade Repair
Many apartment buildings with terracotta details are beautiful to look at, but with beauty comes expense if the material needs repair. Dane Barnes P.E, partner at Joseph K. Blum, was hired to do a façade in...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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14:40
Laundry Rooms: Tech, Compliance and Contracts
Some people own multi-million-dollar apartments, others on a more modest scale, but doing laundry in a communal laundry room is one activity that levels the playing field. That makes the choice of a laundry room vendor crucial to providing a sp...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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13:36
From Steam to Green: How A Beekman Hill Co-op Made the Leap
Around 1500 buildings in New York City use Con Ed steam for heating and cooling, and many are considering moving to electricity to reduce their carbon emissions. If your building has a distribution system that uses the same pipes for heating an...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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13:11
How A Small Condo Tackled A Shared Expense Problem
It's not uncommon for condos with commercial space to find the owner of that space isn't contributing adequately to the shared expenses of the building. The board then finds itself doing assessments for residential owners while the commercial o...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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14:05
Energy Dashboard: Why You Have to See It Before You Can Control It
Apartment buildings that are heated and cooled by centralized systems are prime candidates for technology that can monitor and adjust all the controls needed to power the systems. In this episode, Habitat’s...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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13:31
Resident Insurance Compliance: What You Need to Know
Managing risk in co-op and condo buildings is more crucial than ever as insurance rates soar. Many boards are now requiring residents to have their own apartment insurance, but enforcing this is no small feat. In this episode,
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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9:58
A Tale of Two Systems: How a Manhattan Condo Reimagined Heating/Cooling Comfort
In the heart of Manhattan, a towering condominium grappled with a recurring nightmare: leaky Con Ed steam pipes wreaking havoc on its residents' homes. Each incident left a trail of destruction, prompting the board to confront a crucial decisio...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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21:40
Why The Smallest Apartment Renovation Might Need A Proper Work Permit
When apartment owners in a NYC co-op or condo want to renovate their units, most will sign an alteration agreement and then their plans are sent to the building's architect for review. Difficulties ensue when the reviewing architect says ...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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12:40
Daytime Noise Becomes New Distraction In NYC Apartments
In New York City noise is a common problem. Sleep issues used to be the biggest complaint, but as the world has shifted to remote work, day-time noise has become a new distraction in apartment buildings. Developers of new condos in commer...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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13:45
A Bronx Success Story: All About Energy
It takes a motivated board — or at least one motivated board member — to jump-start energy reduction projects. That describes a Bronx board president, who not only wanted to improve his building’s energy performance but also wanted to reduce th...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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7:44
Elevator Repairs: It’s Complicated
Unforeseen problems, delays, cost overruns — elevator repair jobs rarely go off without a hitch, which can cause big dents in a building's repair budget. In today’s episode, Donald Gelestino, president at
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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8:06
Asleep At The Switch
When it comes to managing co-op and condo finances, boards can’t afford to be complacent — yet, some are. Take the case of one New York co-op, which found itself owing $300,000 in real estate taxes and water and sewage bills due to negligent ma...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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8:54
The Bane of Condo Maintenance — Competing Board Interests
When a condo is governed by a board with competing interests, getting things fixed can be slow going. At one such Manhattan condo ongoing water infiltration from a public plaza was compromising structural integrity of a below grade parking gara...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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10:41
Budgeting in Real Time
Between high inflation, rising expenses, and the lingering effects of the pandemic, it’s never been harder for co-op and condos to balance their budgets. Carl Cesarano, principal at the accounting firm Cesarano & Khan, explains how board...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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6:32