Page 11 - NY Cooperator Expo April 2019

COOPERATOR.COM THE COOPERATOR — APRIL 2019 11 v How many co-ops have you financed? What is your total dollar volume? With how many different lenders? What is the range of the loan size? Since 2011... $300,000 $500 + Million Meridian Capital Group ACME Mortgage 1,630+ $7.68 Billion 28 ? MeridianCapital.com YOUR GUIDE TO INTERVIEWING UNDERLYING MORTGAGE BROKERS Steve Geller | Managing Director 212.612.0222 | sgeller@meridiancapital.com Nicoletta M. Pagnotta | Senior Vice President 212.612.0219 | npagnotta@meridiancapital.com Avi Geller | Vice President 212.612.0249 | ageller@meridiancapital.com Nobody closes more underlying co-op loans than Meridian. Shouldn’t you be working with NYC’s Most Active Dealmaker? Cooperator_Co-Op Interview_March 2019.indd 1 3/4/19 12:50 PM planting. Supply some shovels, mulch, and a design plan. Have volunteers do light trim- ming, mulching, and planting. Make sure to use caution around potentially buried gas lines, and be careful with children and tools – have them plant flowers or small trees which they can watch grow over the years. And offer some food: cookies, lemonade, bags of chips and water to give to the volunteers as they work.” Tight Spaces Much of the above assumes that asso- ciations have lawns, or at least plots of open ground in which they can plant. But for some communities space is at a premium, and they may need to get more creative in order to in- troduce a greener element to their property. “My last community had space con- straints,” says Avery. “The property was beneath an elevated train intersection, so natural sunlight was a real problem. In addi- tion, the City of Chicago installed oversized concrete planters, but didn’t actually plant anything in them. There were eight or 10 of these planters, and the property was not served well by leaving them empty, so as the manager, I was able to obtain a small budget for landscaping after showing the community this missed opportunity. Using this budget, I hired a landscaper who delighted our com- munity with holiday plantings, and wowed us with plants that flourished in the shade and flowered despite pedestrian traffic. On our rooftop, there was little room for contain- ers, so we had seating constructed to include planter beds and planted ornamental grasses to beautify the roof deck.” Boxes and planters are indeed a potential fix for associations that want to add some plant life but don’t have much in the way of available fertile soil. “When we’ve had space issues, we’d have a landscaper add flowers and planters to add color where you could not otherwise grow anything,” says Steele. “Roof- top gardens and plantings are also great, as they get lots of sun – but they do need to be bonds. watered frequently, which can be difficult if there’s no ready roof water access. But I find ing,” says Steele. “They add monetary value dings, graduations, and parties, you often see that plants and flowers in urban settings add a to a property, and most importantly, they can folks gather in front of planters or flowers to lot of value and curb appeal among the other- wise brick-and-concrete jungle.” Plant-Based Lifestyle Having a project to rally behind – or even over flowers, and over seasonal displays,” adds just a shared aesthetic delight – can help bring Avery. “Communities compete to be the best- a community together and strengthen its looking property, and it feels good to live in a “Gardens are visually appealing and relax- smell great and contribute oxygen and fresh pose for photographs, which to me means air.” “Neighbors congregate over landscaping, garden at that moment.” community that makes an effort to promote its curb appeal. During events such as wed- that they want to capture the beauty of the Whenever homeowners get to own – or at continued on page 43 “If you have light tools and a light job, you can always involve the com- munity – especially re- tirees – with a weekend planting. Supply some shovels, mulch, and a design plan.” —Susan Fitzpatrick See us at Booths 104, 205