Announcements
New Board Member - Philomena Papirnik
Dear Shareholders: After six years of service, Gregory Roth has decided to step down from the board. In Gregory's place, the board is pleased to announce the appointment of Philomena Papirnik. Gregory has been instrumental in tackling many important initiatives at Colonial Court: From securing a stellar mortgage rate, to working to get a new laundry provider, to overseeing the eviction and recovery of legal fees from a problematic shareholder, to growing new streams of revenue and cutting energy costs, to sustaining momentum on capital projects like the parapet wall, and so so much more. Without being on the board, it’s difficult to know just how much time and effort he has dedicated to the coop, but it is truly impressive. Please join the board in thanking Gregory for all his hard work, attention to detail, perseverance, and dedication to this building. We are a much better building because of him.
Philomena has lived in the building for 9 years and is a member of the Interior Design and Gardening committees. She has also been acting as an alternate board member for nearly 8 months, so we expect the transition to be a smooth one. Welcome Philomena! We would also like to announce that we are searching for new alternate members of the board. These are appointed, non-voting positions, and they are great way to get to know more about how our building is run and make it an even better place to live. If you are interested in being an alternate board member or have any questions about it, please email board@colonialcourt.org. The Board of Directors |
New Board Member - Katrina Ramus
Dear Shareholders: Oded Oslander, who was instrumental in helping to launch a new parents committee and getting our new playroom up and running, has decided to step down from the Board. In a note, Oded said “one of my main goals was to create a playroom for our growing community of children with minimal cost and maximum safety,” something that will happen in the next couple of months. He added: “I have learned a lot about the daily operation of a co-op and the extensive projects that are involved. I understand how complex it can be and what it takes to run this type of building.” In closing, he praised the Board’s efforts to keep our “building strong and up to date.” In light of this change, the Board is pleased to announce that Katrina Ramus has agreed to join the board, filling Oded’s board seat for the remainder of his term. Katrina, who has lived in the building for more than 10 years, lives with her husband, Arthur, and their son, Oliver. Katrina has been one of the leaders of the parents committee, and has worked diligently to get the new playroom off the ground. She is also very interested in the ongoing efforts to update our laundry facilities and finish the parapet reconstruction project. Please join the Board in thanking Oded for his service to fellow shareholders and in welcoming Katrina as a new Board member. The Board of Directors |
Appointment of Board Officers
Please be advised that during our November 28th, 2012 board meeting, the Board of Directors appointed the following officers to serve in these positions for the 2013 term: Jon Siragusa - President Gregory Roth - Vice President Oded Oslander - Treasurer Barbara Perlov - Communications Waihung Ma - Secretary Thank you. |
Updated Board Members
Please be advised during the annual meeting of 76th street Owners Corp. held on November 15th, 2012, the following shareholders were elected to the board of directors by acclamation: Oded Oslander Barbara Perlov Gregory Roth Jon Siragusa Waihung Ma The Board welcomed new shareholders to the building and updated everyone on the following items: 1. Exterior Restoration Project – Lynn Levine, LPE and Jim Buchleitner 2. Mortgage Refinance – Gregory Roth 3. Building Finances – Syed Haque, CPA 4. Heat Management System / AC Storage – Waihung Ma 5. Laundry Room – Jon Siragusa 6. Children’s Playroom – Oded Oslander 7. Building Website and Email Notifications – Jon Siragusa 8. Building Apartment Values – Gregory Roth We want to thank everyone who attended our annual meeting. Please feel free to email me at waihung.ma@maxxproperties.com if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. Thank you. |
Annual Shareholders’ Meeting
Our annual shareholders meeting will be held on Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 7 pm. We are pleased to invite all shareholders who are interested in running for the Board of Directors to submit their candidacies by Friday, October 26th. For this year’s election process, we are asking everyone who wishes to run for the Board to submit a personal statement that introduces themselves and outlines why they wish to serve. All personal statements submitted by the deadline will be copied and distributed to shareholders two weeks before the annual shareholders’ meeting on Thursday, November 15th. Each Board candidate’s personal statement should include the following: 1. One paragraph describing why he/she wishes to serve on the board during 2012-2013. 2. One paragraph describing the qualities that he/she would bring to the board. 3. One paragraph outlining the most important priorities in the year ahead. Again, everyone wishing to run for the board is urged to announce their candidacies and submit a personal statement by Friday, October 26, 2012. To announce your candidacy and submit your personal statement by email, send your information to board@colonialcourt.org, or call Waihung Ma, the building manager, at 914-899-8032 to arrange a time for him to pick it up. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, November 15, 2012! The Board of Directors |
2012/13 Heating Season
The installation of the building’s new heat management system has been completed and is now online. Sensors have been installed in multiple apartment lines on the fifth and second floors to ensure that we are heating the building evenly. The system has been designed to maintain apartment temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees at all times. The only times when heat will not be operating is when outside temperatures are above 55 degrees during the day and above 50 degrees at night. To prevent drafts from windows, please remove air conditioners from windows during the colder months. Even small gaps in window areas can cause a lot of heat loss. If finding space to store your AC is difficult, we have set up storage shelves in the basement for your convenience, and Chako will remove and store your air conditioner units for you. Please allow him extra time if you have a large AC unit since Chako will need to schedule additional help. In addition, we also recommend that you relocate furniture away from radiators, since that may block your radiators from heating the room. All radiator valves should be in the full, open position. If your apartment is below the goal temperature zone of 70 to 75 degrees, please notify the Chako or email me. Chako will check and log the temperatures in your apartment, check to make sure all radiators are working properly and make recommendations. Thank you and feel free to email the board if you have any questions or concerns. |
Change in Board of Directors
Dear Residents of Colonial Court: Because of the sale of his apartment, Richard Duarte, is stepping down from the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mark Chesnut, a long-time shareholder at Colonial Court, has agreed to fill Richard’s remaining term. Richard has worked diligently throughout the year, and has been instrumental in helping us address the most challenging list of items facing Colonial Court in recent memory. Please join the Board of Directors in thanking Richard for his dedication and hard work on behalf of his fellow shareholders. The Board’s remaining members—Jon Siragusa, Oded Oslander and Gregory Roth—are pleased that Mark Chesnut has agreed to fill in for the remainder of Richard’s term. For those who haven’t yet met Mark, he is a well-known travel writer specializing in Latin America. His work regularly appears in major travel publications. Mark joins a board that has been ceaselessly busy this year, with our parapet reconstruction project; the refinancing of our building’s mortgage; the launch of our new Web site, colonialcourt.org; the winding down of most longstanding legal issues; the expansion of storage space; the installation of a heat timer to enhance fuel-savings; the appointment of a new building attorney; and many other areas. Other projects remain, including addressing the inadequacy of the laundry machines, the installation of a children’s playroom, and updating or our boiler to comply with new NYC regulations. These items have not been forgotten, and we expect to tackle them in coming months. Until then, we again ask for your patience, suggestions, and if possible, your time. We look forward to seeing you at our annual shareholders’ meeting in early November. The Board of Directors |
Our New Mortgage and What It Means for Shareholders
Dear Shareholders: The board is pleased to announce that on September 4th, we closed on a new mortgage with Valley National Bank. The new $3.2 million, 10-year mortgage takes advantage of historically low interest rates, and promises to keep our building on a solid financial footing for many years to come. The new mortgage provides our building with $1 million in additional funds that will enable us to pay for our parapet reconstruction project without charging an assessment. The additional money will also help us strengthen our reserve fund. Once our construction project and new boiler are paid for, we expect our reserve fund to have between $800,000 and $1 million. The interest rate on our new interest-only mortgage is 4%, which is about one-third lower than the 5.68% rate on our previous mortgage. With the lower rate and interest-only structure, we will save $4521 per month in mortgage payments. That savings will add up. Over the next 10 years, the $542,509 we will save can be added to reserves, spent on projects that improve our quality of life, or be used to keep maintenance as low as possible. Although our new $3.2 million mortgage is nominally larger than our $2.6 million mortgage from 2002, it is actually smaller when inflation since 2002 is taken into account. More importantly, because our building has grown in value, we now have a much smaller “loan-to- value-ratio” than we did in 2002. With the building recently appraised at $25 million, our new loan to value ratio is an extremely low 13%, which will put us in an extremely good position when we ultimately refinance again in 2022. The new mortgage also gives us access to a supplementary $400,000 line of credit. Although we don’t expect to tap this emergency credit line, having it provides the building with additional financial security. In sum, our new mortgage will help us pay for our long-delayed parapet project, it will help strengthen our reserve fund, and it will help us save money every month for the next 10 years. All of this promises to preserve our quality of life and enhance our building’s growing value. The Board of Directors |
Change in Board of Directors
Dear Residents of Colonial Court: Michael Lapson has decided to step down from the board of directors for family reasons, effective immediately. During his nearly three years of board service, Michael has worked diligently and has had a hand in all of our recent achievements. He has been instrumental in pushing us forward in crucial areas, such as energy efficiency. Please join us in thanking Michael for his years of dedicated service to our building’s betterment. In Michael’s place, the remaining elected members of the board—Jon Siragusa, Richard Duarte and Gregory Roth—have appointed Oded Oslander in Apt. 323 to serve out the remaining three months of Michael’s term. Many of you know Oded, who has lived at Colonial Court for three years with his wife Amanda and their daughter Noa. We look forward to making good use of his energy and level-headed judgment. On a temporary basis, the role of board president will be filled by the current vice president, Gregory Roth, and the role of vice president will be filled by Jon Siragusa, who will continue to serve as director of communications. Gregory said he will relinquish his role as president after the board’s elections in November. As many of you know, this year has been extraordinarily busy, with the start of our parapet reconstruction project; the refinancing of our building’s underlying mortgage; the launch of our new Web site, colonialcourt.org; the addition of a mid-year shareholders’ meeting; the winding down of certain longstanding legal issues; the expansion of storage space; the installation of a heat timer to enhance fuel-savings; the appointment of a new building attorney; an increased financial commitment to our common garden, and many other areas. Certainly, there are other major issues that need to be addressed, such as the inadequacy of the laundry machines, the installation of a children’s playroom and the updating or our boiler to comply with new NYC regulations. As we tackle these projects in coming months, we ask for your patience, your suggestions, and if possible, your contributions of time. We wish you an enjoyable remainder of summer. The Board of Directors |
Exterior Restoration Project Schedule
On Thursday, July 19th we met with Basonas Construction to go over the scheduling for the project. Below is an outline broken down by task along with estimated start and completion dates. The contractors will begin the work from the South side of the building.
During this project, we will plan to post a drawing of the building in the lobby which will indicate which areas the contractors are working in and which areas they will move to next. We will send out more notices regarding the progress of the project when they are available. Please email Waihung Ma at waihung.ma@maxxproperties.com if you have any questions. |
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