Have you ever wondered about those charming street-level unit entrances you see in many prewar apartment buildings? The ones often surrounded by flowering shrubbery, or with a decorative portico? They’re called maisonettes - French for ‘lit…

After the devastating gas explosion in Harlem in 2014 that leveled a building, leaving eight people dead, and a second explosion in the East Village in 2015 that killed two and injured twenty, New York City passed Local Law 157 (LL157). Whi…

Q. We have a shareholder who has filed several frivolous and vindictive complaints against the cooperative with various city agencies. While he always loses, these complaints have cost the cooperative money in attorneys’ fees. His latest …

The Dakota, on Manhattan’s Central Park West, is perhaps the best-known apartment building in the world—for all the wrong reasons. The iconic building made front-page news in early December of 1980, when former Beatle and Dakota resident Jo…

Achieving balance between board and management is vital in maintaining a healthy collective. A community run by elected representatives requires a combination of experience and professionalism—and that support is frequently provided by a hi…

If you live in, work in, or provide services for a co-op, condo, or HOA, you know that however harmonious a building or association is in general, there is often that one person—or perhaps more than one—who throws a wrench in the works. It …

CooperatorNews has been reporting on matters related to multifamily living, governance, and operations for the better part of four decades, expanding from the New York City metro area to various east coast, midwest, and western markets alon…

Multifamily buildings—both new and existing—face barriers to decarbonization amid competing demands and growing pressure from legislation, residents, and tenants. But there are opportunities to build value today, namely energy efficiency an…

There’s an old joke about business partners on the outs. The punchline is something like, “my lawyer is bigger than your lawyer!” Punchlines aside, though, who can you sue, when, and for what? In our litigious society, the short answer is n…

Among the more mundane—yet vitally important—amenities in nearly every multifamily community is its mailbox and package delivery system. With the massive increase in deliveries in the Amazon Era, and especially post-pandemic, the design and…