building at 33 Greenwich Avenue

Not strict, not the best building. Great location. Great doormen but super is not great and the building has problems.

GVLifer - what problems does the building have? financial or in need of maintenance?

What's wrong with the Super? is there a lot of noise from the Fire Station across the street?

I live in the building and i disagree with GVLifer... the building has the same issues that similar coops built around the same time are experiencing. The building was built in 1961 and the board has until recently been controlled by the sponsor. While the board was controlled by the sponsor necessary repairs were not immediately addressed. That has changed. If you pass by the building you will see there is a massive restoration project going on, starting with restoring the facade. The facade restoration was financed through a special assessment to the owners. There are other repairs that are necessary and all will be addressed. There is ongoing sales activity in the building and I don't believe that would be happening if there were substantial problems.
The building is not strict and has a liberal sublet policy, not sure if that is such a good thing. The staff is great and the Super is just as good as the staff. The Super has been here for 21 years and if he were not effective he would not still be employed here. Because of it's size the fire house is not noisy at all. The location is great, Jefferson Market Clock Tower is under restoration, and their gardens are beautiful. It's a good building in a great location and it just needs some time to complete it's restoration.

And no, I am not a RE broker.

The

Jonnar - are you the seller (just kidding)

LOL, no not selling.... I think the building gets a bad rap because while in control the sponsor ignored their responsibilities and now the current board has to bring the building into the 21st century....

Jonnar, do you know anything about the commercial rentals? Im looking to purchase in the building and I saw they have a really crappy deal with an "affiliate company" and its a 75 year lease with VERY low FIXED increments. Income from this is what usually brings down the cc in coops, and im worried down the road this rent would be so insignificant that the cc will have to increase significantly. Are you on the board? is there any way that they can revoke this lease contract and have it done with fair market value?

The co-op did take back control of the garage so that does generates income and you must be an owner to rent a space. The commercial property along Greenwich Avenue is still controlled by the sponsor, and yes it is a seventy five year lease with provisions for increases every twenty five years. The tenant association at the time of conversion must have been very weak to agree to such terms.

I am not on the board, but the current board is researching the possibility of revoking the leases which they told me is difficult, but doable. There are also a few professional offices on the lobby level which generate income to the coop as well. The president of the board is a relatively new owner in the building and he is young and very bright, and encourages participation from building residents.
I think it would be well worth the investment to hire an aggressive law firm to pursue the entities, which are under control of the sponsor, and take back the lease or renegotiate the terms.

hi! Does anyone have any feedback on this building - how is it like living here? is the board effective in taking decisions that are good for the building in long terms but difficult in short term? I hear there are lots of sponsor units - does that create any problem with respect to maintenance of the building OR any board policies? Is the presence of fire-station a big noise issue?

Response will be much appreciated. Thanks.

I lived in the St Germaine for 17 years. I saw it go from being in receivership to its current state. I sold my apartment just over a year ago after the board underestimated the cost of a MAJOR capital improvement...the entire HVAC system...by more than double! What was supposed to have been an assessment turned into a huge refinancing on the building mortgage that would, of course, be passed on as maintenance increases. The building had an underplaying mortgage of about $6 million and the project was estimated between $4.3-$7 million. After I bailed I found out the final bill will be about $5.2-$5.5 million. That will effectively double everyone's monthly maintenance and take a substantial amount off the top of the value of each apartment. That's why I got out before any of the construction became official. I wasn't prepared to see a couple of hundred thousand dollars of equity go up in smoke. They could have solved a major part of this financing problem if the board had used their heads and just sold the parking spaces in the basement! Those spaces could have probably financed the entire Reno project and I doubt many people wouldn't have bought theirs, since it would only add value to your investment. I know I would have bought mine if given the choice! All of the retail spaces are held by the sponsor so no income goes to the co-op from the deli, restaurant or other businesses.

As for other building issues, I faced the fire station and you get used to the trucks coming and going. The super is great and screw anyone who says he's not. Bill bends over backwards for the tenants and the staff is just as good. The restaurant on Greenwich is now empty, but was a nightmare when it was open if you happened to live on the Greenwich Ave side because of he noise. The other issues with the building are typical of other white brick buildings in the area.

Can someone give more detail on the noise at 33 Greenwich Ave from the fire department? I heard that they test the jaws of life outside regularly and that it can be very noisey. I also originally heard that there was a silence policy (they don't turn their sirens on until they are a block or a few blocks away) but I recently saw that they had their sirens on when they came out of the fire house. Is this only an occasional problem or is it very frequent that noise from the fire house is an issue.

Really appreciate any feedback

Does anyone know if there's a progress on "affiliate company" situation in this building?