At an 'informational meeting' on Thursday, December 6, it was announced that the laundry room would open the following Sunday (the 9th). The room went back into service as planned.

Carlos Rosado conducted the meeting, and knowledgeable statements were made by him, Mike Rubin, Steve Anderson, and Willie Lozoda. About 40 people attended the meeting, and the panel graciously answered all questions. Directors in attendance were Terry MacAvery, Carlos Rosado, Eric Mandelbaum, Karen Suss Wolfson, Shelley Torres Nettleton.

The delay in work was due to many issues, including a need for pipe replacement, and large voids beneath the floors. With regard to the laundry room itself, the latest problems were encountered when pouring the cement floor. The cement was purportedly "poured hot" (according to a previous conversation wiht Mike Rubin), and this resulted in a network of hairline cracks extending from the corner of the room. The question is whether these cracks represented a structural problem or would get worse over time. In the end, it was decided that this evaluation can wait until Springtime, and that the laundry room can be put back in service until then.

The company that poured the floor is Etna Contracting. The engineering firm overseeing the work is Howard Zimmerman Architects. It was stressed by Mike Rubin that there were nine sealed bids, from which the lowest three were fully evaluated. The same firms continue to work on other parts of Building One, though we have "assurance" from Mike Rubin that oversight is more vigilant.

To one question posed during the meeting (will this project go over budget), Director Terry MacAvery, seated in the audience answered a simple "no". This answer is evidently not correct, considering that we've presumably spent significant fees on an additional engineering assessment and new legal fees in addressing the problems. Mr. MacAvery acknowledged that this was an error when questioned about it later.

[previous article is shown below]

The Building One laundry room was taken out of service last spring. Aside from the general renovation as was being conducted in the other buildings, the project was to be done in conjunction with the amelioration of the long-discussed "sinking floor" problem that existed in that building. Now, so many months later, the work is not complete, the grounds outside the building are a mess, and residents of Building One are resentful of having to haul their laundry to Building Two — especially in light of the fact that the weather is getting distinctly cold and wet. Recent communication from our Board let us know that there were issues, but did not detail those issues nor publish a timetable in which construction would be complete.

To track down answers to these questions, Dan Strum, Editor of SPBuzz visited our Property Manager, Mike Rubin in the Rudd Realty office. Mr. Rubin advised that there are two general directions that the project could take, and declined to forecast a completion date until a direction was selected. He did note, however, that a direction would be decided in the coming days, and that he would be in a position to project a completion date on Monday, December 3.

The issue holding up access to the room is that the cement floor that was poured has long cracks radiating out from one of the corners. Mr. Rubin speculated that the concrete was "poured hot" and that the "contractors were in a rush". In any case, Mr. Rubin contends that the cracks are not spreading, and the Architect and Engineer who have been consulted both attest that there is no structural implication to this issue. The cement floor is to be covered anyway, and Mr. Rubin advises proceding with the covering and opening access to the room. He claims that this could be done is as few as five days. The other option would be to break-up and re-lay a portion of the cement floor, an option which could involve considerable delay.