Laurence Towers management problems

Laurence Towers, located at 200 East 33rd St. New York, NY 10016, is a high rise building and Algin Management is the property manager for the building. Although the building has many management problems, the biggest ones have to do with the superintendent, George Salas. Many of the support staff such as the doormen and handymen are very competent and friendly, and work hard to keep the building... [more]

Laurence Towers, located at 200 East 33rd St. New York, NY 10016, is a high rise building and Algin Management is the property manager for the building. Although the building has many management problems, the biggest ones have to do with the superintendent, George Salas. Many of the support staff such as the doormen and handymen are very competent and friendly, and work hard to keep the building functioning, but unfortunately, the goodwill from their efforts is often squandered by the super. He once went out of his way to tell a building resident whom he did not know, and who needed some help with her apartment, that he would NOT help her, even when she did not ask him for help! If that sounds like an exceptionaly mean thing for a super to do, it doesn't even begin to describe the experience of dealing with him. He has in the past destroyed tenant's personal property for no apparent reason, if he could get away with it under the building rules. One could be forgiven for thinking that he appears to have a grudge against all residents (if not all of humanity), and relishes the opportunity to somehow spite them, even if they are strangers to him. Even the building staff, when asked privately, confides that they can't stand him, and the most genial of them says they "don't like him". But likability doesn't matter if he does a good job of running the building, right? THE BROKEN ELEVATORS The building has over 600 residents in over 300 apartment units on 31 floors served by 3 elevators. No, make that 2 elevators. Algin has been repairing and "renovating" the elevators for a long time, leaving the residents with only 1 or 2 of the main elevators functioning at any one time, causing much hardship to the residents, especially pregnant women, the elderly, and those needing physical assistance or those with a baby in a stroller. Until recently, residents have spent an enormous amount of time waiting for the elevators, several times a day. In frustration, many have simply taken the stairs up and down, some even lugging heavy suitcases on the way to the airport, so as not to miss their flight. Since most residents are professionals, and time is money for them, Algin has effectively transferred the cost of non-functioning elevators to the residents, and made them pay for it's botched repairs. Residents need to be aware that elevators not repaired properly are not just an inconvenience, they can be dangerous too. Algin has inserted Clause #6 in their lease that states: "6. Services: ............ landlord may stop service of the plumbing. heating, elevator, air cooling or electrical systems, because of accident, emergency, repairs, or changes until the work is complete. ……". But for how long? Can the manager choose to let the repairs go on and on and on? In Murray Hill, residents in an elevator building on average pay $1700/month more for a 2-bed apartment and an extra $800/month for a 1-bed apartment compared to a non-elevator building. When aggregated over 300+ apartments, that is a LOT of rent for an "elevator building" that Algin has collected from tenants without delivering the full service. MANAGEMENT REEKS OF NEGLECT What is that hideous, soul-sapping SMELL? No it's not decaying corpses, and it is not the city's landfill. It's just the main lobby of Laurence Towers. For a long time, visitors and entrants to this "luxury" building have been welcomed with the overpowering smell of rotting garbage, which comes down the chutes and sits there, just around the corner from the lobby, for what seems like ever. One could ignore it if the smell was just a one-time event, but for months and years on end? THE RISING TEMPERATURES One resident, dripping with sweat and in an understandable rage, was seen on a recent afternoon yelling at the superintendent about how the third replacement air conditioning unit in his apartment was also broken. He had been suffering unbearable heat for over a week (during 95 degree temps outside and even higher inside the apartment). An attorney by profession, the resident was also heard threatening to withhold rent. He even told the super that he would sleep in the super's apartment if it wasn't fixed. And the super's response? "I will not look at it now. We'll see about your a/c when I'm back at work tomorrow." (implying that this was outside of his contractual 8AM − 4PM work hours and the a/c was the tenant's problem until then). THE DOUBLE STANDARDS Algin frequently posts notices asking its long-suffering tenants to be patient with repairs to the building that somehow never seem to end, but at the same time, Algin has a zero-tolerance policy against its tenants…… If a tenant happens to inadvertently violate one of the myriad building rules, even with no harm to others, Algin's punishment is swift and harsh. They will go to the extent of destroying the tenant's personal property, no matter how valuable it is. But tenants break the rules (such as no pets or no grilling in balconies) ALL the time, even with the staff's full knowledge. Algin's official policy is that they can choose to enforce the rules against some tenants and let others break them. Why, you may ask? The tenants at Laurence Towers pay too much rent to be treated so shabbily. At the minimum, the residents of this building deserve 1) a reimbursement or an abatement off the rent that they paid from February until July 2013 (and counting) when the elevators were broken. 2) a new superintendent who does not appear to be hostile to them and does not seem to resent their very presence. [less]