Bill Morris in Legal/Financial for HABITAT Magazine

In the wake of the second- and third-largest bank collapses in U.S. history — and the ensuing tumble of stock markets around the world — jittery co-op and condo boards in New York City are asking a chilling question: Is our money safe?

The answer, most likely, is yes — given the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s backing of all deposits up to $250,000, the federal government’s promise to make all depositors whole at the two failed banks (without using taxpayers’ money), plus the fact that the big national banks and most large regional banks are on solid financial footing. But that doesn’t mean boards don’t need to be careful when they park their money, either for operating budgets or reserve funds.

Experts from the banking, legal and property management professions offer the following tips.

“Your property manager should check out the financial health of a bank before you deposit your money there,” says Adrian Martin, a managing director at Webster Bank.

While most property managers are not trained financial analysts, Martin and other bankers note that much information is public record, including earnings reports, credit ratings, portfolio diversity and whether a bank is open to risk, such as the cryptocurrency depositors who helped bring down Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York. Also, the percentage of a bank’s deposits that are not F.D.I.C-insured can be a barometer of potential trouble. At 93.9%, Silicon Valley ranked second highest in the nation, and at 89.7%, Signature ranked fourth highest, according to Standard & Poor’s. Bank of America is at a comparatively modest 47.1%.

“I advise boards not to just look at the interest rates a bank is offering,” says Thomas Thibodeaux, chief financial officer at New Bedford Management, who has a banking background. “I resist when boards tell me about an online bank that’s paying high interest rates. I’ve advised boards it’s not a good idea to put their money in a bank nobody’s heard of. I don’t need to see a branch on every corner, but I do want to see profitability and stability. We want a conservative bank. Our bank gives us quarterly financial reports, and we look at them. Property managers should pay attention to that.”

Personal relationships also matter. “Boards should be working with a bank that has a real-estate team that’s familiar with the needs of co-ops and condos,” Thibodeaux adds. “You want to be able to speak to a banker.”

Many co-op boards that refinanced their underlying mortgages when interest rates were at historical lows are now holding sizable funds. One way to keep that money safe is to use a service that deposits the board’s money in a nationwide network of F.D.I.C.-insured banks, with a maximum $250,000 per bank. This option offers the trifecta of protection, interest accrual and liquidity. Experts agree that protecting funds should be a higher priority than seeking a high return on investment. Another option for a board with $1 million is to open $250,000 accounts at four banks. But that can lead to headaches.

“Boards and management companies change, and those arrangements can become very problematic,” Thibodeaux says. “You can lose track of who the signatories are. You would rather deal with one representative inside one bank.”

Steven Sladkus, a partner at the law firm Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas, spent a recent day dealing with a representative inside Signature Bank’s midtown offices — trying to withdraw sizable accounts held by his individual clients (not co-op or condo boards).

“I had to fight for my clients’ money because the bank was inundated with thousands of requests to withdraw money,” Sladkus says. “As fiduciaries, co-op and condo boards want to take utmost care where their money is placed. The bank might offer a high interest rate, but you can’t get a banker on the phone. It’s also helpful if you have financial people on the board who can chime in. At the very least, consult a financial professional if you’re unsure where to put your money. There’s nothing shameful in seeking professional advice.”

Andrew P. Brucker in Legal/Financial on November 10, 2022 For Habitat Magazine

In 2014, Gene Vilensky submitted an application to purchase an apartment at Trump Village Section 4, a large cooperative in Brooklyn. Although Vilensky signed an agreement that he “would not permit persons other than those permitted by the proprietary lease to live in the apartment,” he began to list the apartment on Airbnb.

The board sued Vilensky. It asserted fraud, alleging that he never intended to reside in the apartment and had bought it with the intention of using it for “commercial purposes.” The board sought cancellation of the stock certificate and occupancy agreement, as well as legal fees and a permanent injunction stopping Vilensky from leasing the apartment. 

Vilensky disagreed, of course, and moved to dismiss the complaint, contending that it was vague, devoid of facts, and failed to specify what was false or fraudulent. He then counterclaimed that he was physically prevented from entering the apartment, suffered emotional distress, and that the warranty of habitability was breached.

Motion denied, appeal filed. The court held that Vilensky’s motion to dismiss the fraud claim must be denied, since Trump Village 4’s complaint sufficiently alleged that his application fraudulently represented that he would be living in the apartment. The court further upheld a fraud claim because the false representation on the application led the board to waive its option to purchase the apartment. The court also dismissed all of Vilensky’s counterclaims, and he appealed the court’s decision that he had committed fraud.

The appeals court held that allegations that a party entered into an agreement while lacking the intent to perform it are insufficient to support a claim of fraudulent inducement. However, the board alleged a misrepresentation of facts that served as an inducement for the board to approve the sale and waive its option to purchase the apartment. In that situation, the defrauded party may have a cause of action for fraud. The court therefore held that the trial court had properly permitted Trump Village 4’s first cause of action — fraud — to proceed.

The legal lesson. It’s instructive that the trial court and an appellate court allowed a cooperative to bring a fraud action in this case. It is not uncommon for an applicant to claim he will move in and instead install an adult child in the apartment, or to sublet the unit. In the past, boards have had little recourse. This case is virgin territory. It tells us that if a board can prove fraud, it may be able to collect major damages or even terminate the lease. Therefore, it’s imperative for co-op boards to follow such disputes to their legal conclusion.  

Andrew P. Brucker is a partner at the law firm Armstrong Teasdale. The statements and views in this article are his own and not necessarily those of the firm.

By Charlie Wilson for Loop21

A website is a handy tool for any homeowners association. It defines how a community interacts with its residents and eases communication. What’s more? An HOA website makes it easy to access community rules and improves transparency between the residents and the management. Are you seeking ideas for the best HOA and condo website? Well, every association has unique needs, but there are must-have features to look out for.

What features define the best HOA websites?

The features matter a lot when it comes to the choice of website. Although all associations are different, the site should make it easier to manage your community. To build a website with the best features, seek help from an HOA Website company, and consider the following characteristics.

1. Dedicated domain

The website should feature a dedicated domain. This makes it easy for others to locate it, thus the need to choose something straightforward.

2. Resident portals

The HOA website should also have portals to serve both existing and potential homeowners. The current members should access account balances, file service requests, and retrieve vital documents with ease.

3. Online payment options

Online payment options are also vital. Collecting dues using conventional means is inconvenient and time-consuming. The best websites integrate an online payment option, allowing homeowners to settle dues using their user accounts.

4. Calendar& Communication channels

 The site should also feature a community calendar for events, communication channels, and polling abilities. Lastly, it should be mobile-friendly and easy to use.

What are the best HOA& Condo websites?

1. The Towers Of Channelside

This is a perfect choice for people seeking to build a condo association website. The site features an easy-to-use interface with clear and professional images of both the building and neighborhood. Still, it provides basic information about the community, and the clickable links appeal to all visitors. A vital feature of the website is the resident portal. You can include private access with logins assigned to all members.

2. Kensington Glen 

Kensington Glen website is one of the best HOA & Condo websites. It’s renowned for its crisp, clear images on the landing page and all over the site. Moreover, it features a call to action, which prompts user interaction among members. The site is easy to use and very inviting, and you can use it to list the homes for sale in the neighborhood. This is an impressive bonus that allows residents to learn more about the house on sale.

3. Islands of Cocoplum

This HOA website is excellently designed and features professional photos and an aerial view of the property. It includes features like property information, contact information, excellent imagery, and private resident portals.

4. Waterfall South Jacksonville Beach Condos

Waterfall South Jacksonville Beach Condos makes a great association website due to its intuitive features. It presents simple clickable links on the homepage directing users to useful information and services. It also features information and contact details, making it easier for visitors to get an idea of the property.

Final Thoughts

An HOA website is a great way to organize and automate responsibilities. It acts as a central spot where all members can access information and build better relationships. It also helps board members to keep residents posted on any initiatives and events. However, the best HOA website incorporates various features to enhance communication and ease payments.

By Gili Malinsky for CMBC

When applying for a job, there are many ways to optimize your resume. You can check the listing to see where the employer’s priorities lie in terms of experience, and make sure to highlight what’s most important to them, for example. You can include any major achievements like exceeding sales goals. And you can include a link to your LinkedIn profile.

One group of skills career experts say is crucial to include is your soft skills. An overwhelming majority ― 93% of employers ― say “soft skills play a critical role in their decision about whom they want to hire,” Ian Siegel, co-founder and CEO of ZipRecruiter, said in the company’s recent report The Job Market Outlook for Grads.

Soft skills include a wide array of abilities. “I would say, in general, communication is very high on that list right now considering how people are working in very different situations, hybrid situations,” says Kristin Kelley, chief marketing officer at CareerBuilder, as an example.

ZipRecruiter compiled some of the most in-demand soft skills on its platform. Here are the top skills on that list, including the number of jobs on the site listing the skill as a requirement.

Communication skills

Number of jobs listing the skill: 6.1 million

Customer service

Number of jobs listing the skill: 5.5 million

Scheduling

Number of jobs listing the skill: 5 million

Time management skills

Number of jobs listing the skill: 3.6 million

Project management

Number of jobs listing the skill: 2.8 million

Analytical thinking

Number of jobs listing the skill: 2.7 million

Ability to work independently

Number of jobs listing the skill: 2 million

Flexibility

Number of jobs listing the skill: 1.3 million

When it comes to the importance of communication, in part, as Kelley says, that’s a result of the new remote and hybrid work arrangements that rely heavily on tech. “How you respond to someone who sent you an email” matters, she says as an example. “Formally respond to them in 24 hours.”

The importance of communication is also a result of various companies’ recent diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“To be a diverse and inclusive employer,” says Georgene Huang, co-founder and CEO of Fairygodboss, “you have to work with all different kinds of people, which means you have to be able to communicate effectively with all different kinds of people.”

When it comes to scheduling and time management, “no matter what kind of role you have, if you can’t organize your time,” you can’t be effective, she says.

Finally, when it comes to flexibility, “people really have to be able to turn left, turn right on a dime, join the Zoom, be able to manage their own instant messages coming in,” says Kelley. There’s an element of ease with multitasking and being able to switch what you’re doing at a moment’s notice that has heightened since the pandemic and as so many people continue to work from home.

Include your soft skills by giving concrete examples of how you’ve used them either in your resume intro or the bullets under your job descriptions.

John Ganoe To Retire As CAMICB Executive Director; Matthew Green Named Executive Director

Falls Church, Virginia – March 6, 2023 – The Community Association Managers International Certification Board (CAMICB) today announced its Executive Director, John Ganoe, CAE, will retire in April after 11 years in that role. Matthew Green, CAE was named Executive Director. 

“John has been a professional partner and personal friend for almost 30 years,” said Tom Skiba, CAE, CEO of the Community Associations Institute (CAI). “His decade leading CAMICB has seen not only dramatic growth in the number of professional community managers holding the CMCA, but the evolution of the program into THE global credential in the community association management profession. It’s the only credential recognized by ANSI/ISO, as well as industry professionals and governments around the world.”

Prior to joining CAMICB in 2012, John had an extensive career in professional credentialing, non-profit management, and consulting for non-profit organizations. 

“John has built, equipped and developed a talented staff,” added Greg Smith, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, Chair of the CAMICB Board of Commissioners. “He has created a legacy of care and consistency and is now ready to pass the reins onto Matthew and his capable staff.”

“The opportunity to lead CAMICB over the past 11 years as the organization worked to raise awareness of the value of the CMCA credential, expand delivery of the CMCA examination outside the United States, and earn international recognition of the credentialing program has been extraordinary,” said John Ganoe. “I have had the privilege of working with a corps of committed, intentional volunteer leaders and an enormously talented staff.  Matthew’s broad knowledge of the field of community association management and the processes needed to maintain the CMCA credentialing program at the highest level assure continued growth and success for CAMICB. I have the greatest confidence in the future of the organization.”

“John’s tenure with CAMICB has been the primary reason for the growth and direction of this amazing program,” said Rob Felix, CMCA, PCAM, RS who serves as Secretary/Treasurer of the CAMICB Board of Commissioners. “His sincere and unwavering support of the CMCA program, the Board of Trustees, and his staff have catapulted the success of the program to international proportions and recognition. He will be missed.”

“With the help of his talented staff and the depth of their commitment to the program’s success, Matthew’s vision of this grand program will continue down the path set by his predecessor,” added Felix.

About CAMICB

Established in 1996, the Community Association Managers International Certification Board (CAMICB) is an independent board that sets the standards for community association managers worldwide. CAMICB (formerly NBC-CAM) administers the Certified Manager of Community Associations® (CMCA) examination, a rigorous  test that measures managers’ knowledge of community management best practices. Passing the CMCA examination and maintaining the standards of the CMCA certification is proof that a manager is knowledgeable, ethical and professional. CMCA-certified managers have the skills to safeguard the assets of homeowners’ associations, giving homeowners peace of mind and protecting home values.

The CMCA credential is the only international certification for managers that is accredited by the US-based National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) and the globally recognized ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB). This dual accreditation underscores the strength and integrity of the CMCA credential and is a mark of quality. For more information, go to www.camicb.org.

The common (and mistaken) belief that we generate our best ideas early can actually squash creativity.

Imagine a team brainstorming session. At what point in the meeting do you think you’ll come up with your best, most inventive idea?

Most people assume that lightbulb moment will arrive right away, when you’re feeling freshest. But according to new research, we’ve got it wrong.

Across several studies, Loran Nordgren, a professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School, and Kellogg PhD alumnus Brian Lucas, now of Cornell University, discovered a widespread, persistent, and mistaken belief that creativity drops off with time. They dub this the “creative-cliff illusion.”

What’s more, they found, the illusion is self-defeating. The more people believe in it, the fewer creative ideas they generate. But with experience comes wisdom, Nordgren and Lucas learned: people who do lots of creative work do not fall victim as often to the myth of declining creativity.

“People think their best ideas are coming fast and early,” Nordgren says. In fact, “you’re either not seeing any drop-off in quality, or your ideas get better.” By giving up too soon, we risk leaving our best ideas on the table.

Nordgren believes bringing attention to the problem can help people unlock new ways of thinking. “People don’t maximize their creative potential, and part of that is because of these beliefs,” he says.

Creativity Increases as You Brainstorm

Nordgren and Lucas began by recruiting a group of 165 online participants, all of whom had previously worked at charitable organizations, to complete a five-minute brainstorming task. Before they got started, participants were asked to predict their creativity during each minute of the task.

Next, participants set to work generating ideas for how a charity could increase donations. As motivation to keep the juices flowing, the researchers told participants they would be entered in a lottery to win $50 for each idea they came up with.

Then, Nordgren and Lucas recruited a new group of online participants to rate the creativity of the ideas the first set of participants had generated.

Participants in the brainstorming task gave faulty predictions about their own creativity, the researchers’ analysis revealed. While people thought they would become less creative as the session went on, the opposite was true: their creativity—as rated by the second group of participants—actually increased.

Confusing Productivity with Creativity

Why do people so uniformly believe their creativity will decline the longer they tussle with a problem?

Nordgren and Lucas suspected people confuse creativity with the ease of generating ideas. For many of us, early ideas come quickly, while later ideas prove more elusive as the brainstorm slows to a brain drizzle. This experience of difficulty could easily be misinterpreted as a decrease in the quality of ideas.

To test the hypothesis, the researchers repeated the same study as before, recruiting 191 new participants. This time, however, participants predicted their creativity after they had already finished generating ideas.

It didn’t matter. Even after the brainstorming task was complete, participants incorrectly judged their later ideas as less creative—because, the researchers reasoned, those ideas were harder to access. Yet, as in the first study, the opposite was true: ideas that took longer to excavate were more likely to be truly innovative.

No Laughing Matter: False Beliefs about Creativity Make Us Less Creative

In another study, Nordgren and Lucas put the creative-cliff illusion to the test in a real-world setting. They recruited students and alumni of Second City’s training program to participate in a New Yorker–style cartoon-caption contest with the promise of a $150 first prize. The online competition was judged by three professional comedians, who rated the 91 submissions for novelty and funniness (a proxy for creativity).

Contest entrants were given 15 minutes to generate as many caption ideas as they could, but they weren’t required to use the full time. Participants also answered a series of questions about their beliefs about creativity, such as “People tend to generate their best ideas first.”

Those who believed good ideas come early submitted fewer jokes overall, the researchers found—and fewer of the jokes they submitted were rated as highly creative by the judges. In other words, the more people believed their funniness would fade over the 15-minute task, the less productive and funny they actually were.

Experience Can Counter the Creative-Cliff Illusion

Would experience cut through the creative-cliff illusion? The researchers suspected it might—perhaps people with many years of creative work under their belts might be less susceptible to the myth.

The researchers recruited a group of 163 online participants and asked them to rate how often they had to use creative skills in their work (not at all, occasionally, or frequently). The participants completed the same brainstorming task used in the first study—predicting their creativity during each minute of the five-minute task, then coming up with ideas to increase charitable donations.

Participants who never or only occasionally did creative work were much like the participants in the first study: they predicted their creativity would decline over the course of the brainstorming task, when in reality the opposite was true.

But participants with lots of creative experience didn’t make the same mistake. They predicted that creativity would remain relatively constant—a belief that is still overly pessimistic, but closer to correct than most other participants’ predictions. Experience helped them see the power of continuing to chip away at the problem.

“It’s really people who are in the trenches doing creative work that learn this lesson,” Nordgren says.

The Power of Persistence

What does this mean for your next brainstorming meeting? For Nordgren, there’s one very simple takeaway.

“If you’re struggling, keep going,” he says. This and his earlier research on creativity reveal that “our intuitions about how this process works are wrong, and that our best ideas are there. They just require more digging.”

This may mean resisting the temptation to select an idea just because a meeting is ending—a temptation rooted in the false belief that future ideas will be worse. Instead, “maybe you say, ‘I think there are still some better ideas we haven’t explored. Let’s all commit individually to putting another hour into this and come back next week.’”

It’s not easy to do—something Nordgren, who is currently at work on a book, knows firsthand. But he’s committed to taking his own advice. “These ideas are influential in those moments,” he says. “I’ll think, ‘this is a pretty good example, but is there a better one?’ It’s a nudge to keep going beyond what my intuition tells me to.”

By Matthew Green, CAMICB Associate Executive Director

If you love the idea of a job that offers opportunity, stability, and growth, community association management provides an excellent career path. Community association managers work with homeowners and service providers to take care of the many aspects and operations of condominiums, HOAs, and cooperatives. It’s a great job choice for people who previously worked in the leisure and hospitality industries. Those sectors continue to lead U.S. job losses amid COVID-19, with experts predicting slow growth until at least 2023. The good news is that though the coronavirus has dashed a lot of hopes for hospitality grads and veterans, the world of community association management is a bright spot. The field continues to grow and offers excellent opportunities for anyone who wants to continue in a people-oriented career. 

Community Association Management Stats

The Foundation for Community Association Research reports that as of 2020, there were approximately 355,000 community associations in the United States. They house over 74 million residents, over 12 million more than just a decade ago. Twenty-six percent of people in the U.S. live in a community association. More than 60 percent of new housing completed and over 75 percent of new housing sold is in a community association. 

There are over 8,000 community association management companies in the U.S. and up to 60,000 community association managers. Further, there is an additional 100,000 individuals employed by management companies and onsite for associations with staff. As the number of people living in community associations continues to rise, so does the number of jobs for community association managers. If you’re a people person who’s skilled in handling multiple tasks, a career in community management can be an incredibly rewarding career choice.

Community Association Management Career Outlook

Job prospects in the community association management sector are excellent and growth is stable. Though a college degree and professional designation are not necessary to land a position in the field, those who do command a higher salary when starting out. As of May 2020, the median wage for community association managers was $59,660 per year. In 2019, there were 367,900 jobs in the field. Job prospects and projected wages vary from state to state and community to community, so it’s a good idea to check out your area’s particulars.

CMCA – The Essential Credential 

The key to building a successful community association management career is the Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) credential. Holding the certification lets employers know you’re educated and competent in certain management practices. It also indicates your dedication to professional excellence, ethical business standards, and continuing education. Community management employers are continually looking for committed professionals. The CMCA certification can often make the difference between whether or not you land a first interview.

The CMCA credential is relatively easy to obtain and:

• Requires limited time and money investments.
• Demands just a few days of prerequisite course work, some time to study, and one day for the exam. 
• Is relatively low-cost for such a valuable investment in your career and future.

Earning the CMCA credential opens the door to earning additional credentials and up to 20% higher earnings than community association managers who are non-credentialed.

Studying for the Exam and Earning the Credential

Several resources are available on the Exam Preparation Resources page of the CAMICB website. You’ll find these items and more:

• CMCA Handbook
• CMCA Study Guide
• CMCA Exam Preparation E-Learning Course
• Community Association Management Best Practices Reports​
• Community Association Institute’s M-100: Essentials of Community Association Management Course Material Information
• Community Association Institute’s Guides for Association Practitioners (GAPs)
• CMCA Practice Exam
• CMCA Examination Quizlet 

Becoming a Certified Manager of Community Associations is not merely a designation; it can lead to the career journey of a lifetime. It elevates your credibility as a community association manager and makes employers more confident in hiring you. Finally, it offers you a wealth of opportunity, stability, and growth potential in an exciting career that currently shows no sign of slowing down.

For further information, please visit camicb.org or email us with any questions at info@camicb.org. 

Privacy Policy: https://www.camicb.org/privacy-policy

Bill Morris in Building Operations for Habitat Magazine

Frank Gonzalez and Edin Bojic first met at Aviation High School in Queens, and they’ve been resident managers in big New York City buildings for well over half a century combined. For the past year, they’ve been making their wealth of knowledge available to everyone — fellow resident managers, co-op and condo boards, property managers and other real estate professionals — through a popular weekly podcast called “Building Talk.” It’s posted on YouTube at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and on Spotify at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. Back episodes are available here.

“We’re trying to raise the image of the resident manager,” says Bojic, 58, a native of Montenegro (part of the former Yugoslavia) who goes by Bo. “We want to get rid of the old image of the super as a guy with a ring of 100 keys who lives in the basement.”

“Keeping up with the changes in the technology that come out every year requires that we’re always learning,” Gonzalez adds by way of explaining the podcast’s educational slant.

Gonzalez is now resident manager at a 625-unit condo and rental building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, while Bojic runs a 600-unit Mitchell-Lama co-op on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. On the podcast they’ve offered advice to colleagues on everything from interviewing job candidates to resolving conflicts with residents and board members ; they’ve interviewed fellow resident managers and numerous vendors; and their conversations have ranged over landscaping, fire prevention, pest extermination, security systems, leak detection and improving a building’s energy efficiency.

Frank and Bo are an echo of Click and Clack from the popular NPR radio show, “Car Talk.” Like their predecessors, Frank and Bo mix avuncular banter with their hard-won insights, an appealing mix that caught the eye of Bobby Hodge, the resident manager at the Bay Club Condominium in Bayside, Queens. He tuned in to “Building Talk” one day when the guest was Jerry Kestenbaum, founder of BuildingLink. Kestenbaum was touting his spinoff company, Aware Buildings, which produces sensors that can detect leaks and alert staff before major damage occurs. Hodge was intrigued because Bay Club, with its large indoor swimming pool, 44 laundry rooms, water storage tanks and domestic hot water tank, has abundant potential for leaks. Hodge got in touch with Aware Buildings, which helped him install some test sensors. The very next day, one of them alerted him to a leak in an overhead pipe that ran to the domestic hot water tank. After the faulty pipe was quickly repaired, the condo board ordered 84 sensors, which Hodge has installed in potential trouble spots.

Much as co-op and condo board members bemoan their mushrooming work loads, Frank and Bo say resident managers are besieged by the city’s endless onslaught of new laws and regulations. “New York City is reactive, not proactive,” Bo says. “If there’s an accident where someone gets hurt, I know there’s going to be a new local law. There are new laws every year, and the resident manager has to interpret what’s going to work best for his building.”

The biggest change in the profession in recent years? “You have to be a psychotherapist, a psychologist and the customer service department,” Frank says with a laugh. “But mainly it’s the changing technology. Now everyone’s more energy conscious and they want to be more energy efficient. Technology changes every single day.”

Bo agrees: “Technology, definitely. There’s so much information that you’re constantly asking, is everything sealed properly? Is everything working properly?”

Is “Building Talk” working properly?

“This is the first podcast of its kind in New York City,” Bo says. “And yes, we’re getting a lot of positive feedback.”

Upper East Side, Manhattan

(Clockwise from left): 333 E. 69th St., the new cooling tower, the new modular boilers (pictures courtesy of En-Power Group).

As part of our ongoing Problem Solved series, Habitat spoke with Michael Scorrano, managing director and founder of En-Power Group.

The problem of aging infrastructure. Like a lot of buildings that were built in the sixties, the one at 333 E. 69th St. was reaching the end of its infrastructure life. The building also had issues with its distribution system. They were experiencing leaks in the summertime when the air conditioning sent condensate through the old drains, and the leaks were ruining shareholders’ apartment floors. They were on Con Edison steam, which is the most expensive form of heating and cooling. This building was spending around $450,000 on utility costs, of which around almost $300,000 was just for heating and cooling and making domestic hot water. So they were looking to see how they could reduce costs and set the building up for the next 50 years.

We took a look at their Energy Star score, and their resulting letter grade for energy efficiency was a big fat D. So they were below current New York City energy standards. We did a feasibility analysis, and what we finally came up with was getting rid of Con Edison steam for heating, and instead connecting to the natural gas system and putting in very high efficiency, small, modular, hot water boilers to provide heating and domestic hot water. On the cooling side, we looked at upgrading the steam chiller or using gas for cooling. We also looked at putting in smaller modular equipment that eliminated a lot of the costs of hoisting a large piece of equipment up on the roof. So we’re really trying to maximize the infrastructure that was there and make it easy and cost effective when we went forward with construction.

One challenge after another. When they built the building, they installed a steam line from the basement all the way up to the roof. But fast forward 50 years, and we’re trying to find a way to bring a new electric line and a new gas line up to the roof in order to power the boiler and the electric chillers. Fortunately, this building had a open-well staircase in the middle, and we were able to design a fireproof chase and put the utilities in that — gas, electric and control wiring that sends signals to the equipment in the basement. It wasn’t easy to design, but it was the right way to go.

While we were doing the work on the distribution part, the pandemic hit and we had to shut the job down, which created a lot of turmoil. Then we had to restart it a year and a half later. So that was an added challenge.

Mission accomplished. In the end, they were able to reduce their heating and cooling costs by more than half. Their energy-efficiency letter grade went from a D to a nice solid B. They would’ve been facing a $66,000 a year penalty starting in cycle 2030 of the Climate Mobilization Act. By doing this project, they’re not going to have any penalties through the 2034 period.

Every building is unique. I think the first thing to do is to have somebody who’s familiar with New York City infrastructure and buildings come in and properly evaluate how your building is operating. It’s not one size fits all. After we do our analysis, we crunch all the numbers and look at various options and try to put together a nice, simple roadmap for the board to follow. Then the board can focus on what’s most cost effective for that particular building.