As many long term residents are aware, the elevators at Belt’s Landing have reached the end of their expected life cycles and are in need of refurbishing. On November 30, 2017, Belts Landing engaged in a contract with Schindler Elevator to modernize the freight elevator (Car #3). Schindler performed their engineering and final submittals and after a meeting with the Board on January 11, 2018, was given the final approval to proceed with the project. They have ordered fabrication of the required equipment which is projected to be completed on or about March 1, 2018. The next phase will be installation and building related work. During that phase the freight elevator will not be available for resident use. The project is expected to take a minimum of six weeks but may be take longer due to third party and State inspections.
While the elevator is out of service, penthouse residents must use the stairs to access their units from the sixth floor. In addition, any event that normally required the use of the freight elevator (e.g. move ins/outs, large deliveries, major remodeling) will have to be conducted via the stairs or, on a case-by-case basis with approval from the Board or in the case of an emergency, via one of the two passenger elevators. Residents are urged to delay any elective events until after the elevator is returned to service.
Going in to this project, we knew that it would be a major inconvenience for all residents and there is never any good time to commence such a project. However, the freight elevator is “telling” us that it is reaching the end of its intended use without an overhaul. Therefore, it is better to take it out of service for what may be up to two months for modernization on our terms rather than it going out of service on its own requiring up to six months of downtime.
The Board and Management will do its utmost to provide timely updates on the progress of the project. And any resident is always welcome to call me with any issues or concerns they me have with this project. Fortunately, we will not have to go through this process again for another twenty to twenty-five years. Just please be patient and we will endure this together.
George Bereska
Property Manager