Page 42 - NY Cooperator Expo April 2019

42 THE COOPERATOR —APRIL 2019 COOPERATOR.COM See us at Booth 1103 See us at Booth 1112 fees, if not even more.” “I’ve had two occasions that pushed me to break with an association, one of which was fairly recent,” relates Steven Greenbaum, Director of Property Manage- ment for the Long Island City-based Mark Greenberg Real Estate. “A nine-member board was plagued with factional infight- ing, with one in-group representing the younger members. and the other the old- er. Two entirely different mindsets where everything one group wanted to do, the other adamantly refused, and vice-versa. The younger group, for example, wanted new amenities and to embrace the latest technology and services. The older group preferred to add nothing and keep mainte- nance charges stable. “Should the younger group have won a close vote 5-4, when we’d implement what- ever their decision was, the losers would get apoplectic, asking ‘Who told you to do this?!’ or ‘How dare you do that?’ And we’d have to explain to them the significance of the voting process. We could never make that board happy. We spent so much time at meetings playing referee and dealing with nonsense politics, that the whole atmo- sphere became unconducive toward getting things done. The groups would rally share- holders against one another, write slander- ous letters, screaming matches would carry out into the halls...Nothing we did seemed to mitigate any of this.” Greenbaum also recalls a board asking his firm to do things that were most likely illegal. “Things that may have constituted fraud, or lying to the Buildings Depart- ment… it was crazy,” says Greenbaum. “We had no idea where money was going, since they kept tight control of their reserve funds. They were bidding on contractors without licenses. We tried repeatedly to advocate for transparency, but they never complied. Eventually we resigned, as did the board attorney.” What Can Be Done? As a board deteriorates, so goes the building. Thus, it can fall to management to remind the board of its leadership role. When those reminders go unheeded, as illustrated above, that’s when the manage- ment-board relationship can sever. Alex K. Kuffel, President of Pride Prop- erty Management, which has offices in New York and New Jersey, says he has seen many toxic situations in the 25-plus years his company has managed real estate. “If a building is mired with bad deci- sions made by domineering board mem- bers, or the manager is unable to effectively do their job because of inconsistent or im- proper directives, I would do everything possible to realign the situation,” Kuffel explains. “Sometimes that means working with a board to develop a unified objective. In some cases, chaos abounds on many TIME TO CALL... continued from page 8 as a world-class center for tech and innova- tion.” News of Amazon’s planned arrival last year, a deal that was supported by Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, prompted a groundswell of fierce opposition from community activ- ists and politicians, including Congresswom- an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York State Sen. Michael Gianaris. The main stick- ing points were the $3 billion in government incentives offered to Amazon, the lack of public transparency around the deal, which was brokered between the company and gov- ernment largely in secret, concerns over gen- trification, and the strain on the subways. “Amazon needs to get a hold of what they mean to communities, and act responsibil- ity,” Gianaris told CNBC.”When they come in and take over a community like that, the community dies.” Before Amazon’s reversal, New York real estate pros saw this deal largely as a positive for Long Island City. Last December, Crain’s New York Business reported that listings for home prices in the neighborhood rose 20 percent in the five weeks after the news of the deal broke. “We were getting a lot of buyers who wanted to come to Long Island City and Astoria, who thought Amazon was going to come,” Justin Martinez, an agent for broker- age Nest Seekers International, told NBC News. “My developer friends said after Ama- zon announced they were coming to Long Island City, sellers wanted 25 percent more for land prices. Buyers were willing to pay the asking price.” Robert Whalen, Director of Sales in Long Island City for real estate company Halstead, saw reason for optimism. “I’ve lived in Long Island City since 2007,” he told The Coopera- tor last year, “so I’ve seen the pieces that have been leading up to \\\[this Amazon deal\\\] fall into place. I think that it’s a fantastic oppor- tunity for the community and investors. If I’m surprised by anything, it’s how quick the response has been, and how quickly things have gone from somewhat of a lull across the city to this major New York City real estate moment. While there had been steady inter- est in the area, some buyers seemed to be un- easy about making the plunge, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the way this news has gotten people off the fence, to make offers, to get contracts out there.” Amazon’s reversal has changed the land- scape yet again—and some feel the pull-out is bad for business. Like Serhant, broker Jason Haber of Warburg Realty Partnership told Bloomberg News that about 10 of his clients AMAZON... continued from page 8 fronts and it takes some holistic evaluation to determine whether a common denomi- nator can be found among the physical, po- litical and/or financial problems afflicting a building.” n Mike Odenthal is a staff writer at The Co- operator.