Washington Plaza

[newjhuser]

Hey Lilybell, did they make a complaint if you moved stuff yourself? I was thinking of moving in a table and rug myself. I don't know if they were making a stink about it. I also see people leaving stuff out in the hallway? Is that allowed? I thought the bylaws were very strict on that.

[Lilybell]

petster, I don't think there are any rules against non-tenants walking through the grounds. 

hi newjhuser, I don't think they care at all if you move items yourself. I only used movers for my furniture. Regarding stuff in the hallways - I never used to see it in my old building but I see it in my new building - there's a kids bike in the hallway upstairs and my neighbor left his ladder outside his door for a few days. The ladder wouldn't bother me but a permanent bike would. My guess is that things will start to get more strict as more and more people move in (and once there's an actual board instead of just the owner).

ljr, I sure wish I had done exactly what you recommend (regarding punch lists). I still haven't heard back from the guy, except I did get an email from the owner over the weekend expressing her concern. So that is somewhat of a relief that I'm not just going to be ignored forever.

I was so happy to have yesterday off - I got so much put away and finally got my living room curtains up so I no longer feel so exposed. 

[Palermo]

With the success of WP, does anyone know if this kind of thing is going to happen to other buildings in the neighborhood?  And, if so, how many buildings in the neighborhood are rentals as opposed to co-ops?  Just wondering.

there aren't very many rental buildings around anymore, as far as i know. 74-10 35th is rental, and a couple of the buildings on 74th between 34th and 35th are, too. maybe the barcelona, also 74th, going towards 37th  as well.

Spanish Gardens and Cambridge Court can be candidates.  Historic architecture, block long developments, the former still with its (dilapidated) green space and the latter was once a co-op before bankruptcy.  Fingers crossed. 

[MrPlaza]

Thanks for sharing all these details with us, Lilybell. I shared the information with our lawyer just to see if there was any protection we can provide ourselves with regard to closing with a finished punch list. It's interesting that the owner is allowing such poor management of something as simple as a punch list. Definitely something to keep an eye on as we draw nearer to closing sometimes this Spring/Summer.

[Lilybell]

Hi, to be fair, I got a response quickly once I cc'd the owner on my email to the punch list guy. She then personally emailed me twice to apologize and tell me that she told him to get in touch with me. And it worked - I think I am going to see him today or tomorrow.

It's not that the punch list guy is lazy - he is just overwhelmed with work and probably deals with the pushier people first. So I had to switch my normally laid-back manner to become one of the pushy people. And he was on vacation for a couple of weeks, so his "to-do" list is probably ridiculous. He's actually a very nice guy and I like him; I just wish he had more people to help him.

[Dodger]

My apologies if this issue has been covered earlier in the thread (it's a long thread!): Streeteasy just showed four 2 bedroom units having closed in the last day or so at Washington Plaza.  Two of them appear to have sold for about $450,000 and two of them sold for well over $600,000.  I can't figure out from the listing info what the key differences are to warrant such a discrepancy.  It's true that the cheaper ones are listed as 4.0 rooms and the more expensive as 4.5, and the difference here seems to be an eat-in kitchen. But the square footage listed is pretty similar. Just curious!

Here are a couple of links: http://streeteasy.com/sale/1256081

http://streeteasy.com/sale/1256625

[jh_coop_buyer]

The 450K one was originally a one bedroom apartment and then it was converted to a very small 2bedroom apartment by putting the kitchen in the middle or original living room, the current living room is very small about 10x10. While the 600k one was originally a big Junior 4 apartment, which can be converted to 2 bedroom apartment easily. Other than the window facing eat-in kitchen, the living room is the regular size 10x20.

The total area for the 600K is probably at least 20% greater than the the 450K and it is a fact that large apartments demand more dollars per square feet. so it works out probably right. If you check the maintenance fee, it's1200 against 880, which is the same ratio of the price 600K vs 450K

[Dodger]

Thanks! Your explanation makes a lot of sense.

[jh35]

There is a problem with the internet in Washington Plaza. Time Warner confirmed that it is a building problem.

Please call Time Warner to get the problem some serious attention.

Check the internet by going to https://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

click on Los Angeles or San Francisco to check speeds. They seem to be the worst.

Thanks.

[newjhuser]

how bad is the internet? i was going to sign up for twc today.

[jh35]

The internet is usually ok.  I pay for 200 megabits and it is usually close to that. A few times lately it turned off at night.

I tried to stream a concert and it kept stopping. I thought it was a problem with the concert until i did the speed test.
It has been running at about 11 megabits on the LA and SF speed test since the weekend.

Tech support said the building seems to have a problem. I have been told that many times in the past.

The TV seems to be ok. Although my cable cards frequently drop their EMM's.

Verizon also has problems in Washington Plaza. The laundry card machine was out for over week due to a bad verizon connection.

[MrPlaza]

There is a problem with the internet in Washington Plaza. Time Warner confirmed that it is a building problem.

Please call Time Warner to get the problem some serious attention.

Check the internet by going to https://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

click on Los Angeles or San Francisco to check speeds. They seem to be the worst.

Thanks.

When you spoke to them, did it seem like it was a new problem they're having with the building? Seems like you haven't had problems in the past, and now suddenly there are issues. But then you said that you have been told many times in the past that there are issues. Little difficult to understand if it's usually good, but there are now building-related issues, or if this is a longstanding issue.

[Lilybell]

I thought I had internet issues until I bought a new computer. That fixed everything! I don't have any problems with Time Warner (except for their exorbitant prices). We went through a period a few months ago with multiple outages but that was because workmen accidentally cut a cable or something (I can't remember the exact problem). It was very frustrating but I haven't had any problems since. I had an outage a few days ago, but that wasn't just Washington Plaza - when I called TWC I got that "there's an outage in your area" recording and it was fixed by that evening.

I wonder if it's just one building that has issues and not all six.

Not sure when we'll get Verizon Fios - the punch list guy told me it would be a few months.

[jh35]

Most of the time the internet is acceptable. There have been many problems in the past that were always blamed on building problems. For years after I moved in, the TV was terrible and the internet was abominable. The internet would work for a few seconds and stop for a second. Then they fixed it and for a while (years) it has been ok. Now, it seems to me, based on the speed test, that the modem is dropping multiple streams when the internet leaves NYC. And, as I said, the cable card drops the EMM's.

Also, the laundry room card machine is out for the third week in a row. There is a sign on it saying they are working with Verizon. The phones went out a few months ago and Verizon put in a new cooper cable from the Central Office.

This is a nice building but it is a solidly middle class, middle service, certainly not luxury as they seem to portray it now. There have always been heat, electricity, water, and gas service problems that have been mostly fixed when they renovated the apartments. It will be interesting to see how they maintain the building now that people have spent so much for the co-ops.

The renovations that they did were not what they could have been. The water pipes are narrow, especially to secondary bathrooms. The electrical boxes in the basement were not upgraded after they changed the risers to the apartments.

Let's not even mention the constant mold problem.

All in all, I like living here, although it sounds like I do not.

I await FIOS which is in the basement, but management will not let them wire the building (yet?).

[newjhuser]

Mold? That doesn't sound good. They still need to do all the lobbies and hallways and the gym...........................................