Page 7 - NY Cooperator October 2020

COOPERATOR.COM THE COOPERATOR — OCTOBER 2020 7 Help your residents get the extra space they need right now. Bargold will turn your unused building space into a secure, state-of-the-art storage facility FOR FREE . We will handle everything from start to finish, and we’ll PAY YOU monthly. Contact us today! WWW.BARGOLD.COM Our Investment. Your Return. (718) 247-7000 Storage4U@bargold.com Our Investment. Your Return.Your Return.Your Return.Your Return. Just when you thought the nest was empty...they’re back to up their game to compete now for sales.” What Are Owners & Boards Seeking? “Storage always has been—and still is— the number one issue in apartments,” says Sygrove. “Now with many apartment dwell- ers collecting multiple packages of paper towels, wipes, disinfectant, and toilet paper because there were shortages, our personal spaces are exploding. Closets are being out- fi tted more precisely for the types of storage needed. People are seriously purging items that they don’t need so they can recapture that space. We have requests from families with kids doing everything on the dining table. I’m designing a multi-purpose din- ing/work/craft table \\\[for one such client\\\] to accommodate the additional duties this table must perform. Th e work is challeng- ing and stimulating at the same time.” Sygrove is also receiving inquiries from building boards. “In particular, we have come up with a unique design for door- person stations that protects the staff , as well as incoming residents and visitors. Our desks are now designed with an inte- gral recessed groove to accept the kind of frameless protection screen you’re seeing crop up everywhere. When COVID is over, this groove can also be used for changing signage about building activities, instruc- tions that all visitors must be announced, the name of the door staff on duty—what- ever is needed. It’s designed for both func- tion and aesthetic. We are also designing functional space into the desk that we call a ‘sanitation station,’ right at the doorperson’s fi ngertips. It can house wipes, disinfectant spray, surgical gloves, and masks so that he or she does not have to go elsewhere to get these supplies. We’ve also designed en- closed trash receptacles into our desks so things don’t fall out and have to be picked up later. Th ere’s a trash cabinet with a door and a slot so the door staff can simply dis- pose of trash through the slot.” A Deeper Dive Co-op and condo owners and boards are looking more deeply into upgrades that may be less immediate but are no less necessary, adds Sygrove—like cleanable upholstery and surface materials. Prior to the pandemic, interior designers working in residential buildings didn’t oft en look at products designed specifi cally for the healthcare industry, but now have found these materials very handy for use in high- traffi c common areas that require the kind of regular cleaning and disinfection proto- cols that formerly were the domain of hos- pitals and other care facilities. Of course, along with using easily cleaned or disin- fected materials, it’s also important that building staff knows how to clean every item, and what cleaning products to use. For her part, Sygrove provides a manual for her clients with all of this information. WHAT’S HAPPENING... continued from page 6 Outdoor space has become even more such a space would have on residents aft er important than ever for co-op and condo so many weeks and months cooped up at communities, particularly now that things home, the board is focusing on fortifying are a bit more open, but people still need and upgrading the outdoor space now; “It’s room to observe prudent social distanc- ing. Boards are looking into the viability focus point, limited seating but enough for of adding roof decks to their buildings, or residents to enjoy the out of doors,” says Sy- turning ground-level courtyards into us- able residents-only outdoor spaces. Out- door amenities may be the key to holding sprawling development or a small, tight- value in the future; Sygrove says she’s work- ing with a building now where earlier this tional design can not only help make things year the board had deferred investing in the a little easier during this stressful time, but outdoor space until the lobby and hallway can also help retain—or even increase—the design projects were completed. Recogniz- ing not just the monetary value of outdoor space, but also the morale-boosting eff ect a clean space with a central sculpture as the grove. No matter whether your building is a knit walk-up of just a few units, smart, func- values of the homes in your community. n other automated building features will be a subject to highlight in sales listings. As time goes on and we understand more concretely about COVID-19, its spread, its prevention, and its effect on residential real estate, developers and brokers will be looking for other selling points for their properties. Some will require architectural overhauls; others merely some creative Streeteasy spin. n PLAYROOMS... continued from page 6