One of the questions in the annual meeting was if there was going to be meeting notes taken. Residents wanted a point of record for all the issues going on and the management/ownership was going to be addressed. About four days after the meeting, we get an email with meeting notes. Here they are (attendance notes omitted):
With 93.92% of units represented in person or by proxy, a quorum was established and
the meeting was called to order by Marshal Johnson, The CWD Group, Inc. at the hour
of 7:00 p.m.
As there was no prior annual meeting, no meeting minutes were available for approval.
There was a brief President’s Report made by Kelly Saito, Gerding Edlen
Development. Mr. Saito discussed the change in the Ownership of the unsold units as
well as the change in the Management Company from PREM to The CWD Group, Inc.
There was a brief overview of the POS budget and then review of the new POS/2010
Budget, which was approved by the Board of Directors & Development, by Marshal
Johnson.
The floor was opened to Homeowners to discuss their questions/concerns regarding the
building.
The meeting was adjourned at the hour of 10:07 p.m.
Serious? Where are ALL the concerns that were raised? I mean, according to these “minutes”, we barely had a meeting. The response from the management was that point of Minutes are just to capture the expected agenda and that the three hours of ANGRY, IRATE feedback was not part of the notes. Really? On the Bell Towers bulletin board, one resident wrote “I think the annual meeting minutes is an absolute garbage. We should request a minutes with tangible contents”. Exactly, but we have not gotten any new minutes. My thinking is that they don't want to put in writing all the issues that have been plaguing the building.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Annual Meeting [Part #3]: Do you belong here?
After the Marshall spoke, a representative from Morgan Stanley, Ira, came up to speak. At this point, the residents had spewed out most of their venom, so it was a pretty good time for Ira to come to speak. The main points that he spoke about were:
• Morgan Stanley will try their best to maintain the integrity of the price of the building. Definitely good news. The expectation is not to do an auction or do an apartment conversion.
• Will try to fix as many open issues as they can with the help of CDW.
• Early buyer proposals will be addressed, but the time line for a response is uncertain until Morgan Stanley takes total control of ownership
• The building does not have debt and is maintaining a sufficient reserves.
After the meeting, everyone stuck around so if we had more concerns, we could speak directly to the ownership and management. I went up to Ira, as I really wanted to know if there would be any compensation coming down the line for the initial residents on their proposals.
I go up to the area around Ira and understandably, there are a bunch of folks already asking him questions. I wait my turn patiently and then finally, had an opportunity to ask questions. But before I could open my mouth, he interrupts me…
“Are you a resident here?”
What?? Are you kidding me? I had just sat through a 3-hour long Owners Only meeting and I asked several questions in the meeting. I probably don’t fit the usual demographic of the building, but really? Are you going ask me that? Offended.
Basically, I, again, recount my issues when I moved in and was really hoping for some closure on the matter of the proposals that we made earlier, Didn’t’ get much more than was stated earlier – Morgan Stanley will have to completely take over the building first before they can address any proposals. This will take months and when you get a response, it will be small compensation (implied).
At this meeting there are a lot of folks from the Nyhus Media company running around taking notes. I think they are doing the PR stuff for Bell Towers and are taking notes to get a clearer picture of what folks were thinking and trying to fix the buidling’s image.
As I was talking to Ira, one of these note takers chimes in to Ira… “Oh he’s the one with the blog! I can give you the link!” Are you serious? I’m trying to make my case for some traction on my proposal and out of nowhere, this guy chimes in? I felt like I was in a elementary school classroom and this guy was telling on me. For the most part, it seemed like their job was to take notes and observe, but I guess not.
• Morgan Stanley will try their best to maintain the integrity of the price of the building. Definitely good news. The expectation is not to do an auction or do an apartment conversion.
• Will try to fix as many open issues as they can with the help of CDW.
• Early buyer proposals will be addressed, but the time line for a response is uncertain until Morgan Stanley takes total control of ownership
• The building does not have debt and is maintaining a sufficient reserves.
After the meeting, everyone stuck around so if we had more concerns, we could speak directly to the ownership and management. I went up to Ira, as I really wanted to know if there would be any compensation coming down the line for the initial residents on their proposals.
I go up to the area around Ira and understandably, there are a bunch of folks already asking him questions. I wait my turn patiently and then finally, had an opportunity to ask questions. But before I could open my mouth, he interrupts me…
“Are you a resident here?”
What?? Are you kidding me? I had just sat through a 3-hour long Owners Only meeting and I asked several questions in the meeting. I probably don’t fit the usual demographic of the building, but really? Are you going ask me that? Offended.
Basically, I, again, recount my issues when I moved in and was really hoping for some closure on the matter of the proposals that we made earlier, Didn’t’ get much more than was stated earlier – Morgan Stanley will have to completely take over the building first before they can address any proposals. This will take months and when you get a response, it will be small compensation (implied).
At this meeting there are a lot of folks from the Nyhus Media company running around taking notes. I think they are doing the PR stuff for Bell Towers and are taking notes to get a clearer picture of what folks were thinking and trying to fix the buidling’s image.
As I was talking to Ira, one of these note takers chimes in to Ira… “Oh he’s the one with the blog! I can give you the link!” Are you serious? I’m trying to make my case for some traction on my proposal and out of nowhere, this guy chimes in? I felt like I was in a elementary school classroom and this guy was telling on me. For the most part, it seemed like their job was to take notes and observe, but I guess not.
Annual Meeting [Part #2]: New Management
After the verbal barrage from the residents, we met with the new management group, CDW. CDW replaced our old management group, PREM. This was a fairly positive part of the meeting as CDW management group promised that they will be able to keep the HOA rates significantly lower and improve the quality of the service to the building. Currently, HOA dues were expected to be .52 per sq/ft when enacted, but they said they would lower it by a good .10 sq/ft. So depending on the size of the units, a considerable amount of savings were to be had. .41 per sq/ft. That would be pretty sweet. We’ll see. I can be skeptical, right?
Annual Meeting [Part #1] - Lambs to Slaughter
We had our annual meeting about a month ago; the meeting was blood bath. I haven’t heard from so many ANGRY people before.
We started off the meeting with the principals from Gerdling Edlen, the builder of the project. The first thing they told us was that the financier, Morgan Stanley, was taking over the project, but they would still be managing the building. It wasn’t much of a surprise since it would be difficult to manage the building without any financial backing given the low occupancy in the building. They started fielding open questions from the residents…this is where the bullets started flying. I don’t think I can truly give a fair description of how angry and frustrated residents were, but I was half-expecting pitchfork and flames to be brought out. The prinicipals from Gerdling Edlen really had no remedies to the concerns, so it was essentially the residents battering them with all their frustrations. Here were the main PAIN points:
1) Odor Stench - Many of the units reek. As I mentioned before in my previous post, the vents to both towers take in air from the street level area. Some vents aren’t directly placed on the street level, but given the position and winds, a large portion of the air gets sucked up right into the vents. A lot of residents even on floors past the 20th were complaining about how their units smell like Barrio and the back alleyway. For me, the smell is pretty evident, but the worst is still for the sewage pick-up. Disgusting.
2) Noise – Garbage Trucks, Delivery Trucks, Boiler Plate, Garbage Trucks. Understood, it is the city, but the noises are loud. I know many residents past the 10th floor that are woken up by the garbage trucks nightly. Some even have to take meds to even function correctly. I’m pretty far up, but I can definitely still hear the clang of the delivery trucks at night. They wake me up from time to time.
3) Unfulfilled Promises – When I moved in, I was told there would be many things available, but none of them seem to have been fulfilled:
* (No charge) valet guest parking – Right now, I’d opt for just having any guest parking. The only parking available for guests is the Purple/Barrio parking which most of the time is packed during peak hours. Also, it’s the weirdest setup. Visitors actually have to go outside the building in order to get into Bellevue Towers. By the time this condo fills up, there will have to be some remedy for guest parking. Even with about 20% of the building full, many times, guests don’t have a place to park. Overall, there is a lack of parking at the building, there just is isn’t enough spaces, buyers can’t even buy an extra space if they wanted one.
* Cable in the workout rooms – The room with the treadmills have personal TVs, but you can only watch basic stations. After the switch to digital by Comcast, the TVs don’t have cable (over channel 30). I have asked on several occasions for a resolution for this, but the feedback has been that it’s too expensive.
* Dining Room – I was told that the community dining room would be free to use by residents, but it’s contingent on a $50 fee. Still a good deal, but still not what was promised.
* Café – There was supposed to be a café as the third restaurant offering on the bottom floor. Instead it will be a third bar/restaurant. Although, I didn’t have too may issues with this, many residents were told that it would be a cafe/restaurant vs. a bar.
* Initial Residents/ Price Integrity – As mentioned before, the first residents that moved in were (verbally) promised some price integrity, the prices have plummeted, the anger has risen.
We started off the meeting with the principals from Gerdling Edlen, the builder of the project. The first thing they told us was that the financier, Morgan Stanley, was taking over the project, but they would still be managing the building. It wasn’t much of a surprise since it would be difficult to manage the building without any financial backing given the low occupancy in the building. They started fielding open questions from the residents…this is where the bullets started flying. I don’t think I can truly give a fair description of how angry and frustrated residents were, but I was half-expecting pitchfork and flames to be brought out. The prinicipals from Gerdling Edlen really had no remedies to the concerns, so it was essentially the residents battering them with all their frustrations. Here were the main PAIN points:
1) Odor Stench - Many of the units reek. As I mentioned before in my previous post, the vents to both towers take in air from the street level area. Some vents aren’t directly placed on the street level, but given the position and winds, a large portion of the air gets sucked up right into the vents. A lot of residents even on floors past the 20th were complaining about how their units smell like Barrio and the back alleyway. For me, the smell is pretty evident, but the worst is still for the sewage pick-up. Disgusting.
2) Noise – Garbage Trucks, Delivery Trucks, Boiler Plate, Garbage Trucks. Understood, it is the city, but the noises are loud. I know many residents past the 10th floor that are woken up by the garbage trucks nightly. Some even have to take meds to even function correctly. I’m pretty far up, but I can definitely still hear the clang of the delivery trucks at night. They wake me up from time to time.
3) Unfulfilled Promises – When I moved in, I was told there would be many things available, but none of them seem to have been fulfilled:
* (No charge) valet guest parking – Right now, I’d opt for just having any guest parking. The only parking available for guests is the Purple/Barrio parking which most of the time is packed during peak hours. Also, it’s the weirdest setup. Visitors actually have to go outside the building in order to get into Bellevue Towers. By the time this condo fills up, there will have to be some remedy for guest parking. Even with about 20% of the building full, many times, guests don’t have a place to park. Overall, there is a lack of parking at the building, there just is isn’t enough spaces, buyers can’t even buy an extra space if they wanted one.
* Cable in the workout rooms – The room with the treadmills have personal TVs, but you can only watch basic stations. After the switch to digital by Comcast, the TVs don’t have cable (over channel 30). I have asked on several occasions for a resolution for this, but the feedback has been that it’s too expensive.
* Dining Room – I was told that the community dining room would be free to use by residents, but it’s contingent on a $50 fee. Still a good deal, but still not what was promised.
* Café – There was supposed to be a café as the third restaurant offering on the bottom floor. Instead it will be a third bar/restaurant. Although, I didn’t have too may issues with this, many residents were told that it would be a cafe/restaurant vs. a bar.
* Initial Residents/ Price Integrity – As mentioned before, the first residents that moved in were (verbally) promised some price integrity, the prices have plummeted, the anger has risen.
4) Metering Fee for electricity - The building outsources a submetering company to do the eletricity. It's a nominal fee, but it's another $5/unit per month. With 542 units, it would seem possible to bill per unit for less than $32k/year.
5) Gym Noise – This is my own personal gripe. I didn’t know how the noise the gym reverberated so heavily. When you drop the weights slightly, it echoes to all the units around. I really would have thought that the builder would have insulated the gym so the noise wouldn’t affect the residents around it. As one of my fellow residents put it "It sounds like a gunshot just went off".
5) Gym Noise – This is my own personal gripe. I didn’t know how the noise the gym reverberated so heavily. When you drop the weights slightly, it echoes to all the units around. I really would have thought that the builder would have insulated the gym so the noise wouldn’t affect the residents around it. As one of my fellow residents put it "It sounds like a gunshot just went off".
Dirty, Crowded Tub
[ post refers to Jan 18th, 2010]
I’m a pretty regular hot tub user in the Towers. I don’t know how it’s going to work when we fill up the 500+ units, there is only space for seven people in the tub. The last couple weeks, the water has been DIRTY. By dirty, I mean, the visibility is about 2 inches, it is a milky brown with a bit of an odor.
I talked/emailed to the management about it and was told, they’ve cleaning it as the required interval, but will look into it. I guess ‘til it gets remedied, I’ll get to soak in dirty and smelly water. I’ve always wanted to visit the Ganges.
I’m a pretty regular hot tub user in the Towers. I don’t know how it’s going to work when we fill up the 500+ units, there is only space for seven people in the tub. The last couple weeks, the water has been DIRTY. By dirty, I mean, the visibility is about 2 inches, it is a milky brown with a bit of an odor.
I talked/emailed to the management about it and was told, they’ve cleaning it as the required interval, but will look into it. I guess ‘til it gets remedied, I’ll get to soak in dirty and smelly water. I’ve always wanted to visit the Ganges.
Smells Like S#it #2
[Post refers to March 11]
So last night, I was up late when I intruded on by this ungodly stench. At first, I thought something was on fire or another grease spill from Purple [see Smells like S#it #1], it smelled like a mixture of burning rubber and feces. The smell went on for hours. When I went to sleep, it was as bad as ever…it was so overwhelming...
The next day, I followed up with the management. To my horror, I was told that there is a sewage pick-up in the alleyway and because the vents in the building suck up some of the air from the street level...I get to enjoy a big heaping helping of excrement in my unit monthly.
A generic picture of sewage spilling out i found on the web. I can't capture smell, but this is the best image I could find to capture the smell.
So last night, I was up late when I intruded on by this ungodly stench. At first, I thought something was on fire or another grease spill from Purple [see Smells like S#it #1], it smelled like a mixture of burning rubber and feces. The smell went on for hours. When I went to sleep, it was as bad as ever…it was so overwhelming...
The next day, I followed up with the management. To my horror, I was told that there is a sewage pick-up in the alleyway and because the vents in the building suck up some of the air from the street level...I get to enjoy a big heaping helping of excrement in my unit monthly.
A generic picture of sewage spilling out i found on the web. I can't capture smell, but this is the best image I could find to capture the smell.
Smells Like S#it #1
[Post refers Dec 1, 2009]
I got home and was welcomed by a pungent and objectionable food smell. I hadn’t cook for a couple days, so I didn’t know where the smell could have been coming from. The smell was pretty strong, especially by my laundry room where the main vent is. My guess was that I smelled the food from my neighbor downstairs cooking.
I talked the builder and was told that that was actually the smell from the restaurants downstairs. Really? The builder told me it was just where the vents are placed and that they wouldn’t be able to resolve it. Really? I guess if you like the smell of the Purple kitchen in the unit 24/7, it would be pleasant, but not for me. Residents in the South Tower get the Barrio exhaust smell, so residents can have more variety.
I got home and was welcomed by a pungent and objectionable food smell. I hadn’t cook for a couple days, so I didn’t know where the smell could have been coming from. The smell was pretty strong, especially by my laundry room where the main vent is. My guess was that I smelled the food from my neighbor downstairs cooking.
I talked the builder and was told that that was actually the smell from the restaurants downstairs. Really? The builder told me it was just where the vents are placed and that they wouldn’t be able to resolve it. Really? I guess if you like the smell of the Purple kitchen in the unit 24/7, it would be pleasant, but not for me. Residents in the South Tower get the Barrio exhaust smell, so residents can have more variety.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)