Problem Solved! For Co-ops and Condos

A management company transition should be routine: the old firm hands everything off, the new one takes over, and life goes on. But Carl Cesarano, principal at Cesarano & Khan , has spent years watching these handoffs quietly unravel, leaving boards scrambling months later when the annual audit comes due and nobody can locate records. Boxes get shipped, stored, and forgotten. Agents blame each...

A landmark Upper West Side co-op thought its terracotta facade just needed another round of repairs. Instead, it uncovered nine cycles of patchwork that had made things worse. Raul Mayta, principal architect and co-founder of M+S Architects and Engineers , walks through how his team used laser scanning and hands-on investigation to find hidden cracks masked by old waterproofing, and why some secti...

Replacing a roof sounds straightforward — until it isn't. For co-op and condo boards, a routine repair can spiral into a cascade of unexpected consequences, all triggered by something as small as a change in thickness. In this episode, Craig Tooman, principal at CTA Architects , talks about how today's energy code is quietly rewriting the rules of roof replacement in ways most boards nev...

Switching managing agents sounds straightforward — until it isn't. In this episode Meredith Wettach, manager at WilkinGuttenplan , unpacks the financial surprises that quietly derail co-op and condo buildings during management transitions. Wettach has seen it all: missing records, dormant accounts nobody knew existed, and six-figure expenses that slipped through the cracks for years before an...

Accessibility complaints are one of those slow-moving threats that co-op and condo boards rarely see coming — until they're already in trouble. In this episode, Louis Lipson and Eric Cohen, principals and architects at Ethelind Coblin Architect , walk through a real case that landed a New York City building in the crosshairs of the Department of Justice. What started as a single complaint fro...

If your building's energy bills feel like they're running on autopilot, it's time for a wake-up call. John Stevens, founder of Alternative Sustainability , reveals how rooftop exhaust fans could be costing your building up to $70,000 a year. He breaks down how newer fan technology can slash energy use by up to 87%, with a return on investment in as little than 1.6 years. Whether you...

A 1912 building on the Upper East Side failed its gas inspection and faced a terrifying reality: repairs could exceed half a million dollars, with residents losing cooking gas for an indefinite period. Peter Varsalona, principal at RAND Engineering & Architecture , walked the board through a systematic approach that ultimately saved them over $300,000 and minimized apartment disruptions. Varsa...

A newer Upper West Side condominium was facing a crisis: three water damage claims over four years had pushed their insurance premium from $50,000 to $130,000. Sophie Bird, Senior Vice President at IMA Financial Group , reveals how her team discovered the real culprit wasn't the building itself, but something hidden in the bylaws that was driving up claim costs. Bird explains the unconvention...

What happens when a multi-million-dollar condo conversion hides serious structural problems in plain sight? Restoration architect Hannah Sebastian, co-founder of Mayta + Sebastian Architecture , walks board directors through a real-world case involving a landmarked former church near Washington Square, where leaks, failing marble, and a visibly — but not obviously — leaning spire sparked years of...

An 18-story Upper West Side condo thought they were being financially prudent by delaying their facade inspection. Instead, they ended up paying half a million dollars more than they should have. Gene Ferrara, president at JMA Consultants , walks through exactly what went wrong with this building and why the problems kept compounding. The terracotta repairs turned out to be far more complicated th...

When a 1927 Emery Roth building on the Upper West Side faced a crumbling cornice, the board could have spent a fortune on traditional terracotta and waited two years for installation. Instead, Oswald Bertolini and Eric Vonderhyde, partners at Bertolini Architectural Works , came up with an unconventional solution that cut both costs and timelines while satisfying Landmarks' strict requirement...

New York City’s phase-out of No. 4 heating oil is accelerating, and Jeff Cohn, Director of Energy Programs at Approved Oil , lays out the practical steps every No. 4 oil-fueled building must take to stay compliant, control costs, and avoid mid-winter emergencies. Drawing on a real-world conversion at 95 Park Terrace, he explains how to evaluate your tank room, prepare for DOB inspections, adjust o...

A 200-plus unit Manhattan condo thought they were holding a routine virtual election. Votes were cast through Zoom chat and emergency intervention was required to certify the results. In this episode, Corinne Arnold and Will Kwan from EZ Election Solutions explain why they were brought in to salvage the situation. They walk through what went wrong, why the managing agent running the election creat...

Warren House, a 330-unit post-war condo in Murray Hill, was staring down rising utility bills and Local Law 97 fines. What happened next offers a blueprint for other buildings facing similar pressures. Robert Post, vice president of co-op and condo at Parity , walks through the challenges Warren House encountered with their fan coil heating and cooling system, the technology solution they implemen...

Residents of 1 Grand Army Plaza — a sleek, all-glass condo in Brooklyn — struggled with sweltering corridors and soaring repair bills, and set out to find why. Unfortunately, the “why” turned out to be a fundamental design flaw in the building’s ventilation system. The fix, shared by Amalia Cuadra, senior director of engineering at En-Power Group , was a phased capital project that not only restor...

Insurance carriers are abandoning New York buildings at an alarming rate, and your co-op or condo could be next. Jason Schiciano, co-president of Levitt-Fuirst Insurance and Bonding , reveals how a 108-unit cooperative saw their premium nearly triple after being non-renewed by their carrier. Learn why insurance companies are walking away from New York buildings and discover the red flags that coul...

When a small Manhattan co-op suddenly saw its budget spike, rising costs weren’t the culprit — it was an administrative filing error. Turns out the co-op had lost its co-op tax abatement worth $60,000 because its management company had missed the rule regarding prevailing wage requirements. Avi Zanjirian, partner at Czarnowski & Beer walks us through how the board discovered the oversight, fix...

When a routine facade inspection uncovered a catastrophic structural failure, the garage at an Upper East Side co-op became a ticking time bomb. In this episode, Michael Monteiro, senior project engineer at Cowley Engineering , explains why ramps are the canary in the coal mine for structural issues, what warning signs residents can spot themselves, and how ignoring deterioration can lead to hundr...

Water damage is insidious: it will eat into your building's budget and drive up insurance costs. John Rusk, president and co-founder of ProSentry , reveals how an affordable leak detection system can transform your building's risk profile through the story of a condominium that saved $300,000 on insurance after installing sensors throughout the building. You'll learn about the surpr...

Time is running out for New York co-op and condo boards facing Local Law 97's 2030 compliance deadline, but there's a smart path forward. Punit Shah, Vice President of Existing Buildings at Bright Power , shares the surprising reality facing one Upper East Side condo that was looking at massive penalties. Shah reveals the three-phase approach that's transforming buildings across the...

When a post-war Upper West Side co-op decided to electrify to meet Local Law 97 requirements, they thought they had a clear roadmap. But what started as a $2 million project quickly spiraled into something much bigger and much more complex. Tina Larsson, CEO of The Folson Group , reveals why even well thought out projects can double in cost and scope. If you're planning any major infrastructu...

Gas shutdowns are every building's nightmare, and depending on which service is affected residents could be without heat, cooking or laundry service for who knows how long. Getting service restored can open a can of worms though, particularly in a laundry room. Ashley Erichsen, an account executive at Automatic Industries , explains why and details the journey of a large Bronx co-op to get it...

Board members taking control of new condominiums need to engage an independent accountant to perform a proper financial true-up — before it's too late. Amy Jennings, a manager at WilkinGuttenplan , reveals how one Manhattan condo board discovered their sponsor owed them six figures only after the waiver period (when the sponsor markets the building by waiving common charges) ended. The buildi...

Water waste is often a silent drain on your building’s finances, and it takes a bit of sleuthing to find the source. Alan Rothschild, president of the Vantage Group , a water cost management consultancy, reveals how one Harlem condominium discovered their commercial tenant was secretly using water-cooled refrigeration equipment that bypassed their sub-meter, costing the building thousands annually...

When an Upper East Side co-op’s gas pipes failed Local Law 152 inspection and service was immediately shut off, what happened next could have cost over half a million dollars. Instead, smart planning kept repairs under $200,000, and engineering expert Peter Varsalona, principal at Rand Engineering and Architecture , reveals the step-by-step strategy that saved this building from disaster. Learn wh...