Monday, February 24, 2014

So What Came Out of the Tenant-CW Meeting on the Construction of the New Management Office?

It appears, not much, if anything.

I wasn't there (though I wish I could have been), but according to the Town & Village article on the February 18th meeting, "End in Sight for Construction Project," no vital information was forthcoming. Just the title chosen--"End in Sight for Construction Project"--was not eye-opening, as, of course, the end is always in sight for any project here in Stuy Town (except fixing the buildings affected by Hurricane Sandy), and it was already known that the spring or summer would be the "end in sight" for this particular one. So yawn on the title.

Apparently, "major construction" will be finished in May, with completion set for August.

And you can bet disruptive work will be done on Saturdays eventually:

"Andrew Kane of CW Capital said that updates are now being posted in individual buildings and that work starts at around 8:30 a.m. during the week. While they are trying to push all their work to during the week, weekend work is sometimes unavoidable, said Kane."

Questions about rent rebates during this time were not answered by CW and Compass Rock representatives, but this info wasn't in the Town & Village article. And nothing at all was mentioned about Councilman Garodnick challenging the acceptance of Saturday work hours for this project. (Which may mean that he didn't challenge such potential plans, despite being a sponsor of legislation to rein in such abuses.)

A couple of days later, a blue tarp covered a contaminated area of soil (soil samples were taken to be tested a week earlier), but nothing about this test appears to have been mentioned at the meeting. One wonders if CWC and CR knew the results as they were speaking to tenants on February 18th.

Councilman Dan Garodnick stated of CWCapital and CompassRock after the meeting that, "It’s important for them to share information about the project."  Which means that tenants should already know the results of the soil testing and why a blue tarp was necessary over part of the ground.

12 comments:

Mike O'Brien said...

I agree with our ST Reporter, and I don't know what is less surprising about this outcome:
- CompassRock's inability to maintain and repair PCVST's buildings and grounds,
- Garodnick's inability to hold CompassRock accountable for their poor performance, and
- CW Capital's failure to provide oversight for their corporate sibling, CompassRock.

Lest any of us forget, CompassRock and CW Capital are both subsidiaries of CW Financial. I'm sure CW Capital explained to the senior bond holders that paying a related company to manage the property was in their best interest.

Plumbing the depths of poor performance, in 2012 CompassRock allowed conditions in our building to deteriorate to the point that they became dangerous. In spite of repeated pleas, Garodnick's office staff never even returned our calls. Thank goodness for Jack Lester - he helped us take PCVST to court to ensure the repairs were done properly.

Since our elected officials and the TA have been unable to prevent this new "investment", we can only hope that the neighborhood children don't lose their playground for the entire summer.

Anonymous said...

I was at the meeting to see what kind of slippery type Andy Kane is. He deflected every comment smoothly (Sean Sullivan could have learned from him) and wouldn't even take it upon himself to make sure that construction didn't start earlier than it's supposed to. Dan got fed up and pushed him to deal with one of the issues someone brought up (can't remember what it was). Kane and his minions answered a couple of questions, but overall it was yet another poke in the eye for tenants. The takeaway: No one here should play nice with CW or expect a reasonable and civilized exchange or even an exchange at all. They're in charge, and they're going to do what they're going to do. Our best bet is to get to them legally and financially, which means everyone has to be alert to conditions and situations we can take action on.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Totally agree.

Anonymous said...

We should own the property, the property should not own us! Like I've been saying, it's time to organize!

Anonymous said...

Good job Handsome Dan and Marsh The Knife!

Anonymous said...

They all think they stand in the golden circle.

Anonymous said...

Handsome Dan and the TA are equally as responsible for what happened to Stuy Town as Andrew MacArthur and CWCapital are. Dan only cares when there are cameras around and the current incarnation of the TA lack the experience needed to battle these real estate pirates.

Anonymous said...

Less knives, more clues!

Tommyboy said...

What's the latest on the toxic soil that the excavation exposed?

Anonymous said...

While MetLife marketed potential and Speyer planned implementation, CWCapital has successfully demonstrated the ability to confiscate and convert residential open space to permanent commercial use incorporating a large construction project. Painting it green is an insulting concession to residents forced to live with it.

Massive, income enhancing, commercial development will be a major selling point when CWC places ST/PCV on the auction block.

CWC is playing its cards very well. With all that's going on at ST/PCV right now and what's at stake for current residents in the future, the TA and politicians have to pick and choose their battles. This would be a very expensive, goodwill exhausting loser that, at best, could only slow construction down and make enemies out of allies resenting requests to take sides on issues where they can't help and refusing/unable to help later on because of it.

Anonymous said...

9:28 a.m.: You may have identified something CW is actually good at. They've been a total flop at everything else necessary to run and maintain this place.

Anonymous said...

9:28 AM is right. Picking losing battles isn't productive. The DOB rep said that this project is OK zoning and building regs-wise. At best we can create headaches for CWC on this front, but that's about it.