CompassRock Update
RESIDENT NOTICE - WEEK OF NOVEMBER 12
We are writing to
provide a comprehensive update on the status of repairs and services at
the property. Since our last update we have made significant additional
progress including:
- Restoring gas service to two buildings ahead of schedule
- Restoring elevator and handicap lift service in all Peter Cooper Village buildings
- Opening garages for insurance adjusters and encouraging Quik Park to increase communications with its customers
- Repairing the electronic heat regulation system in Stuyvesant Town
- Restoring four water pumps in Peter Cooper Village to increase water pressure
- Relocating management staff so normal work orders and other resident business can continue
Restoring services to
our property as safely and quickly as possible remains our top
priority. We have made a lot of progress in restoring services since
the storm and are keenly aware that our job is not yet complete.
Critical priorities going forward include: Restoring gas service to all
buildings, returning utility fed power to 6 PCR, fixing key card access
and intercom systems in impacted buildings, repairing the electronics
that control and monitor our heat distribution system in PCV, repairing
the damaged water pumps in PCV and helping residents gain access to
their personal property located in basements. At the same time, we are
also working hard to return a sense of normalcy to our community,
particularly around the holiday season. While life at PCVST will go on,
please understand that this work is being done separately with separate
resources from the restoration efforts. Restoring services to our
property as safely and quickly as possible remains our top priority.
In the update below, we
have tried to provide the most up-to-date and complete information that
is available. In some cases, we are still not yet able to provide
estimates due to the extent of damage and complexity of the required
repairs, but we are aware of these issues and are working to resolve
them. We continue to work through the challenges the storm has caused
and will provide updated information and timelines as they become
available.
We want to extend our
continued thanks for your patience, understanding, and support during
the last few weeks. We have all been faced with a difficult set of
circumstances as a result of the storm and we are incredibly proud of
how our entire community pulled together to support one another.
UTILITY SERVICES
Electricity: All
110 buildings have had full power restored. 6 Peter Cooper Road is the
only building currently running on generator power due to the damage
sustained by the manhole explosions.
Unfortunately, Con Ed
has found that the damage to their systems was worse than anticipated
and as a result, 6 PCR will remain on generator power for an additional
week. As a preventative measure, we have taken the following additional
steps to ensure consistent electricity from the generator: we are
manning the generator 24 hours a day; we have increased fuel delivery to
maintain the generator and are keeping back-up fuel available at all
times; and we are keeping an additional backup generator onsite in the
event of any malfunction with the current generator. We ask residents to
be mindful and conserve energy wherever possible, especially during
morning and evening peak times, in order not to overload the temporary
generator.
We will notify you in
advance of the conversion from generator to permanent utility power
which will necessitate a temporary power shut-down of several hours.
Elevators will be checked and shut down prior to shutting down power for
the conversion.
Gas Service:
We remain on or ahead of our previously published schedule to restore
gas service. We are happy to report that gas service in 7 Peter Cooper
Road and 531 East 20th Street has been restored. In the event there are
any delays in restoring gas to the remaining buildings, we will notify
you immediately.
Please note that in
order to complete the restoration of gas service, it is necessary for
our staff to access all of the impacted apartment homes throughout the
coming two weeks (except Thanksgiving) between the hours of 9AM and
7PM. Unfortunately, it is difficult to provide advance notice as we are
dependent on ConEd. Access to apartments in the impacted buildings is
necessary to complete service restoration and your cooperation in the
matter is essential to the restoration of gas service. A security guard
and locksmith assist with entry into all apartments. If you have
installed your own top lock, please be sure to leave it unlocked daily
during these times until gas service is restored in your building. If
we need to access your apartment and the top lock is locked, we will
have no choice but to drill through it.
We continue to expect
gas service to be restored by Saturday, November 24th for the following
buildings: 309, 315, 319, and 321 Avenue C; 400 and 410 E20th Street;
330 First Avenue. At this point, our assessment indicates that gas
service will not be restored for these buildings in time for
Thanksgiving and we apologize for that inconvenience. However, we
remain on track for the restoration schedule published on November 3 and
we will continue to update you as new information becomes available.
Unfortunately, we also
experienced new gas service interruptions earlier this week in two
Stuyvesant Town buildings, 285 and 287 Avenue C, due to shut downs
required by ConEd as a result of pressure issues in their systems
offsite. Initial assessments indicate that gas will be restored to these
buildings within three weeks. We will continue to keep you informed as
we get additional updates from ConEd.
Regarding buildings
which sustained damage to gas meters and were flagged for a "Potential
Shut-Down," our assessments thus far lead us to believe that the
shut-down will not be necessary. We continue to monitor these affected
buildings: 441, 511, 541, and 601 E 20th St; 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 Peter
Cooper Road. We will alert you in case of any change in status.
Heat Service:
Heat service has been restored to all 110 buildings. The electronic
system which controls the distribution of heat, and therefore regulates
apartment temperature, was damaged by the storm. The system which
supports Stuyvesant Town has been repaired; the system which supports
PCV remains under repair. As a result, in PCV, valves must be opened
and closed manually by our engineers, which means that for the time
being, some apartments may experience excessive heat.
Water Service:
Hot water service has been restored property-wide, though the motors
for the water pumps which support water distribution to all of PCV are
still undergoing repair. Of the 12 pumps in PCV, only two functioned
after the storm. We now have six pumps working but the additional six
remain out of service. We continue to procure the necessary parts to fix
the motors and restore all 12 pumps. In the meantime, these six pumps
have been providing increased water pressure, nonetheless we ask
everyone to continue to be mindful and conserve water, particularly
during peak hours in the mornings and evenings.
Elevator Service:
Elevator service has been restored property-wide, with only three PCV
buildings, 7 and 8 Peter Cooper Road and 440 E23rd Street, still
undergoing elevator repairs to one passenger elevator. 6 Peter Cooper
Road has one elevator in service while it remains on temporary generator
power. We remain on schedule to have these elevators fixed by November
21st. In PCV buildings affected by flooding, the elevators will not go
to the lower levels until the basements are fully restored.
Handicap Lifts: All handicap lifts in affected Peter Cooper Village buildings have been restored and were operational as of last night.
Cable Service:
If you are still experiencing outages for cable service, please contact
your provider directly. Below is information we have received regarding
specific providers -
- RCN completed repairs to their on-site to equipment damaged by the storm.
- Verizon crews are on-site working on repairs to their equipment damaged by the storm.
- Time Warner Cable has not contacted us since the storm concerning any repairs.
PCVST MANAGEMENT OFFICE & SERVICES
Due to the extent of the
damage to the PCVST Management Office, we have relocated most of the
staff to various locations throughout the property, as well as certain
functions such as Accounting and Legal to temporary offices off-site. We
have restored access to our IT systems; continue to repair the phone
system, and to provide staff with supplies and equipment so that they
can resume full business operations.
We are also working on
more suitable, long-term plans for the relocation of the Management
Office staff throughout the property. We appreciate your understanding
while we work under these constraints. Below you will find updates about
various departments from which you may require assistance.
Resident Services:
Resident Services has been relocated to Oval Study from Oval Kids due
to a building-specific flooding issue. Operating hours are Monday
through Friday from 8am to 8pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 8:30am to
6pm. Contact information for Resident Services is provided below, as
well as how to reach PCVST staff members concerning accounting, legal or
leasing matters.
In addition to
responding to emergency Work Orders (toilet/drain stoppages and
non-functioning refrigerators and stoves), we have also resumed
servicing normal work order requests. Residents may request maintenance
repairs either via the PCVST Resident Portal, accessible via pcvst.com
or by calling (888) 885-8490 and leaving a voice message with detailed
contact information and the nature of the issue. While we continue to
restore our normal operations, we are limited in our ability to complete
repairs when residents are not home, even if they provide permission to
enter. To address this issue, we are working to expand service capacity
during evening hours when more residents are at home. We will notify
you once this is in effect.
Public Safety:
The new headquarters for Public Safety can be found at Oval Studio. We
will continue to supplement our security team as necessary over the
coming months as we complete restoration efforts. Security cameras have
been restored and the property key room remains secure and has been
relocated.
Management Office Contact Information:
While we work to repair our phone system, we have set up email
addresses in order to make it easier and faster to reach the appropriate
PCVST staff member. When sending emails, please include your name,
contact information, and the nature of your inquiry. We will respond
to email submissions within 24 hours between the hours of 9am to 5pm.
You
may also call (888) 885-8490 to leave a voice message with your contact
information and the nature of your call. A staff member will get back
to you within 24 hours between 9am to 5pm. We continue to work on
complex phone system repairs required due to the damage caused by the
storm to the Verizon equipment. We hope to restore our phone lines in
the next week.
For Public Safety, please continue to call (347) 680-2212. In case of emergency, please call 911.
Access Cards & Keys:
All Stuyvesant Town Card readers are operational at this time. In PCV,
card readers are currently out of service in a number of buildings due
to damage to the card reader control panels located in the basements
caused by the flood. In the meantime, security guards are posted at
these doors checking IDs and controlling access. The buildings affected
include the main entrances to 511, 531, 541 and 601 E 20th Street; 440,
510, and 530 E 23rd Street; 7 and 8 Peter Cooper Road; and the basement
entrances to 441 E 20th Street; 420 E 23rd Street; and 3, 4, 5 and 6
Peter Cooper Road. We are working with our third-party security
contractors to restore the system as quickly as possible and will keep
you informed of progress on these repairs.
As an interim solution,
all buildings with damaged card key access will have new cylinders
installed on the entrance doors which can be unlocked using the carriage
room key for that address. We will provide keys, free of charge, to any
resident who may require a key.
We are now able to
provide new building access cards, which can be requested at the Public
Safety office in Oval Studio. Residents may also request to have keys
made by contacting Resident Services and picking up the keys at Oval
Study. Please do not share access cards or keys with others.
Intercoms:
The intercom systems at Stuyvesant Town are operational, except that at
this time they cannot reach Security through the intercom due to the
flooding of the Security office on Avenue C. We are working to re-route
the security lines to the new security office and expect that to be
completed by early next week.
The system which
supports intercom service in several of the buildings in PCV has been
damaged by the storm. We continue to work with the intercom system
manufacturer to repair the service. We expect intercom service to be
repaired by the week of November 26th for the following buildings: 431
and 441 East 20th Street, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Peter Cooper Road, and 350,
360, 370 and 390 First Avenue. Other intercom systems in Peter Cooper
Village sustained greater damage and will take longer to repair. The
intercom company is working to expedite those repairs but is not yet
able to provide an estimated timeline. These buildings are: 420, 440,
510 and 530 East 23rd Street, 511, 531, 541 and 601 East 20th Street and
6, 7 and 8 Peter Cooper Road. We will provide an estimated timeline as
soon as it is available.
Sanitation:
The trash chutes are now operational in all 110 buildings. In PCV, bins
placed outside of buildings affected by flooding should no longer be
used for household trash, but rather for recyclables until further
notice.
Basements: Basements
in PCV and the terrace level of Stuyvesant Town buildings were impacted
by flood water and sustained significant damage. We remain focused on
restoring and repairing all of the basements and will continue to work
with our professional contractors, our environmental engineers and our
professional restoration crews to complete the work as safely and as
quickly as possible. Residents should be comforted to know that there
is no common ventilation system between basements and the upstairs
residential and common areas in any of our buildings. As a preventative
measure, we are in the process of sealing off some of these basements
and dehumidifying these areas to remove excess moisture from the
concrete and to help us restore these basements to their original
conditions.
While we have engaged
professionals in large scale restoration efforts, we would also advise
our residents to review the information laid out by the New York State
Department of Health which addresses questions regarding flood recovery
including how to handle personal property that may have been stored in
flooded areas.
Please refer to: http://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/emergency/weather/hurricane/faq/docs/faqs.pdf
Limited Access:
In some cases we have closed basements for ongoing restoration work. We
will soon begin providing controlled access to some buildings, where
residents will have the opportunity to retrieve personal property from
their NTT storage units and remove bicycles. Residents will have until
November 30th to
retrieve their property and any items left behind will be discarded.
The controlled access schedule is as follows: Weekdays
between 5:30PM and 9PM and weekends
from 10AM-2PM. Controlled access begins
this afternoon at 5:30PM.
Tenants wishing to access these basements should report to the tent
outside of PCV Playground 1 at these times and they will then be
escorted by security to the basements. Only residents who reside in the
buildings or have an NTT storage locker in the buildings will be given
access.
No Access:
Residents may not access basements in 511 and 531 E20th Street and 7
and 8 Peter Cooper Road for the foreseeable future due to the extensive
damage in these areas.
- Storage: NTT Storage will communicate to customers with storage units in those buildings with further details by Saturday.
- Bicycles:
To the extent that we are able, we will remove bicycles and securely
store them in Playground 1 in PCV where residents can claim them over a
period of 30 days, after which, unclaimed bikes will be discarded. To
claim your bicycle, please be sure to bring the key or combination to
your bike lock.
Trunks:
Trunk retrieval has been suspended throughout the property. We will
remove all trunks located in buildings impacted by flooding. Those which
are salvageable and intact will be moved to a warehouse where residents
will have the opportunity to claim them over a thirty day period. As
soon as the trunks have been relocated, we will provide additional
details.
Peter Cooper Road: Peter Cooper Road has been reopened following repairs completed due to the storm. The 30-minute parking rule is back in effect.
Playgrounds PCV1 and PCV2:
These playgrounds are currently closed while we assess and repair the
damage that may have occurred to the surface area during the storm. We
will inform you once they are reopened.
Local Law 11 Project / Façade Work:
Despite the on-going property wide restoration efforts, the on-going
façade work in PCV and façade work planned in ST remains on schedule and
in compliance with Local Law 11 which mandates the inspection and
repair of all building facades every five years. In Peter Cooper Village
7 PCR and 601 E20th Street the work has been restarted and should be
completed by end of January. The initial phase of work in Stuyvesant
Town has commenced at 2, 4, 6, and 16 SO. Over the next couple of weeks
start of work notifications be communicated to residents in the
following additional building: 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20,
and 21 Stuyvesant Town Oval; 610, 620, 622, 624, 626, and 628 E20th
Street; and 315, 319, and 321 Avenue C.
RENT ABATEMENT
Tenants without heat,
elevator service, or electricity following the storm will not be charged
rent for any day in which they were without one or more of those
services. Residents will receive a communication advising of your
abatement amount. Unfortunately, due to the damage of our technology
equipment we will not be able to provide the credit in the December
bill. We expect to be able to offer the credit in time for the January
billing cycle.
THIRD PARTY SERVICES
Parking Garages:
Quik Park has reopened garages 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 for business.
Customers whose vehicles were in Garages 2, 3, 4, or 5 during the storm
will not be billed for November and for December 1-15. Please contact
Quik Park directly to work out your accommodations concerning your
vehicle. The Garage Manager will be available at Garage 1, located on
20th Street. Please also note that all damaged vehicles not removed from
Garages 2, 3, 4 or 5 by December 15 will be towed by Quik Park at the
vehicle owner's expense. QuikPark sent a more detailed update to all
customers earlier this week. For additional information, please see
the Manager in Garage 1 or contact Quik Park at 212-832-2066.
Laundry Service:
We are working with MacGray, our laundry service contractor, on a
detailed plan to restore laundry rooms flooded during the storm.
Buildings with laundry rooms damaged by the flood include: 441, 511,
531, 541, 601 and 620 E20th Street; 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 Peter Cooper
Road; and 420, 440, 510 and 530 E23rd Street; and 319 Avenue C.
Additionally, the dryers will not work in buildings currently
experiencing gas outages: 285, 287, 309, 315, 319, and 321 Avenue C; 400
and 410 E20th Street; and 330 First Avenue. We will provide a timetable
for the restoration of full laundry service in those buildings as soon
as we can.
In response to inquiries
we have received, we cannot provide access to buildings with
functioning laundry rooms at this time. In the meantime, Oval Concierge
offers free pick-up and delivery for laundry service. All residents are
welcome to use this service. In the buildings where laundry rooms were
not affected by the flood, we are aware that laundry card machines are
currently taking cash only. This is due to the damaged phone lines and
hope to have the issue resolved upon the restoration of our phone
system. For additional information, please call 1-800-MAC-GRAY. For a
list of laundry rooms in the neighborhood, please visit the pcvst.com
Alerts page.
NTT Storage:
Please refer to the updates regarding basements detailed above
concerning access to storage units in buildings which sustained flood
damage. Billing has been suspended for customers of affected units as of
Monday, October 29, 2012. NTT Storage will provide tenants with
individual notifications regarding their storage units shortly. For
additional information, please contact NTT Storage directly at (212)
253-2435.
Oval Fitness:
The fitness facility sustained significant damage from the flood. We
are working to remove equipment, clean out the space, and rebuild the
facility as quickly as possible and we hope to reopen within six months,
if not sooner. Members will receive individual letters in the coming
weeks providing the necessary details for their accounts, including
information about refunds. Also, please note that because of the
extensive damage and the extended downtime for the facility, American
Leisure will no longer be involved in the day-to-day operations. They
have provided us with all of their records, so please email
living@pcvst.com for any questions related to Oval Fitness.
Oval Kids, Café, and Study:
These amenity spaces, which are currently operated by American Leisure,
are closed indefinitely. We will update you when these amenities are
scheduled to be restored. All Oval Essentials memberships have been
suspended indefinitely and refunds will be applied. Members will receive
individual letters with details about their accounts. For additional
information, please visit the Oval Essentials office adjacent to Oval
Café.
Oval Concierge:
The Oval Concierge remains operational with standard operating hours
(Mon-Sat from 8am to 8pm) and is available for package delivery and
receipt, laundry, housekeeping, and other services. Shuttle service is
running on its usual route and schedule.
PCVST Ice Rink:
PCVST's seasonal ice rink, operated by Ice Rink Events, will open this
Saturday, November 17th at 11am. Residents are invited to enjoy free
admission all day this Saturday. For operating hours, lessons, and other
details, please visit pcvst.com. For additional information, please
contact
icerink@pcvst.com. The completion of the
ice rink was accomplished using separate outside contractors and did not
impact any of our on-going restoration efforts.
Community Center:
The Community Center has resumed its standard operating hours and basic
daily programming has resumed (including card and board games and
Friday movie screenings), with the exception of the senior fitness
classes due to the lack of available space (now that 300 First Avenue is
occupied by PCVST staff).
Greenmarket:
Due to the restoration efforts underway and the Local Law 11 work that
has begun, the Greenmarket will not be returning to Stuyvesant Town for
the remainder of this year. We will notify you if the market gets set up
in a location near the property.
We thank you again for
your understanding and patience throughout this restoration period. We
will continue to provide you with updates and post information on
pcvst.com. We also invite you to celebrate the holiday season among
neighbors and friends, starting with the Tree Lighting ceremony on
November 29th, followed by a number of other festive events in the
coming weeks.