Six Buildings, One Facade Crisis, and a Plan That Worked

A five-year, nearly $10 million facade restoration across six Manhattan high-rises sounds like a board's worst nightmare, but careful planning turned it into a success story. Michael Stripunsky, associate principal at SUPERSTRUCTURES, unpacks the project's toughest challenges: coordinating repairs across 700-plus units without disrupting residents or the building's commercial tenants, deciding which facades to prioritize first, and finding a way to shrink the sidewalk shed's footprint long before the project was finished. He also details a documentation method that kept the contractor accountable at every stage of the concrete repair process, a small shift that made an outsized difference in efficiency. For boards bracing for their own facade project, Stripunsky offers insight into what actually keeps timelines and budgets under control, and what separates a project that runs smoothly from one that spirals. Habitat's Emily Myers conducts the interview. 

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Transcript

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Emily Myers: Welcome to Problem Solved, a conversation about challenges facing New York's co-op and condo board directors. I'm Emily Myers with Habitat Magazine, and I'm joined by Michael Stripunsky, associate principal at SUPERSTRUCTURES. Michael, thanks so much for being here. 

Michael Stripunsky: Thanks for having me. 

Emily Myers: Façade projects have a way of growing once the scaffolding goes up.

Hidden conditions appear, water infiltration reveals deeper problems, and of course, timelines stretch. In this episode, we'll look at a project at a six building co-op. The repairs were triggered by unsafe conditions after an inspection, and we'll discuss some of the practical decisions that made it successful.

Tied to construction documents and step-by-step documentation of the repair, as well as prioritizing quality of life for residents. Michael, this is a co-op in Manhattan. What kind of façade does it have? 

Michael Stripunsky: Yes, as you mentioned, there are six high-rise residential buildings, concrete frame, brick masonry façades constructed between 1968 and 1974 in multiple phases.

And yeah, so that's basically the type of the construction we're dealing with. 

Emily Myers: So what did the unsafe filings mean in practical terms for the building? 

Michael Stripunsky: Unsafe filing means that the building has unsafe conditions, which potentially can be hazardous. Having these conditions requires immediate actions from the building owner, like installation of the protection, but also immediate actions in terms of the repairs, addressing those conditions.

Emily Myers: Okay. And were shareholders noticing leaks? Was it evident that there were problems on the façade from the inside as well as the outside? 

Michael Stripunsky: Yes, absolutely. Those conditions are often connected. The FISP conditions, Local Law 11, and water infiltration, they often come from the same deficiency in the façade.

Emily Myers: Okay. And are there any features of this co-op, whether it's perhaps the masonry or, or the structural details on the facade that sort of added complexity to this project? 

Michael Stripunsky: Y- y- yes. The construction of those buildings is, as I said, a concrete frame with a lot of concrete elements exposed. So it's a combination of really two major deficiencies related to exposed concrete and masonry.

So it's not purely masonry facade. We had to deal with deteriorated, spalled, cracked concrete, as well as shifted, cracked, spalled brick masonry. 

Emily Myers: Okay. And of course, as you mentioned, unsafe facade conditions do mean that a sidewalk shed goes up immediately for pedestrian safety. When did that happen, and what stage is the work at now?

Michael Stripunsky: The project started in 2022. That's where the buildings received the unsafe status with the previous cycle filing. And the construction started also the same year, and at this point the project is still ongoing. We finished three buildings and we filed safe reports with DOB and they were accepted, and we still continue with the other three buildings.

Emily Myers: Okay. And so obviously with six buildings involved, what perhaps was the board most concerned about at the outset? I imagine cost, but also disruption and this sort of extended timeline. 

Michael Stripunsky: Yes, absolutely. There are more than 700 units. This type of project requires a lot of coordination. And besides the residential component, there is a, a commercial component in the building, so the areas with the commercial component became priorities, so we had to design the repairs in such a way that they're done in the sequence most favorable to the client.

Emily Myers: Okay. And in these sort of larger scale projects, is the phased repair the most sensible approach then? 

Michael Stripunsky: Yes, absolutely. The sequence, that's something which has to be thought at the early stage of the project. That's very critical for the project of that scale, that type. So it's not up, up to the contractor to decide what the sequence is.

We have to work with the building owner to understand the priorities, to incorporate those priorities in the design documents. And a- also, what was very helpful in this particular project, like with the concrete repairs specifically, it's to streamline the inspection and documentation process. So we came up with the innovative approach when the contractor is involved in documenting each step of the repair in, uh, concrete repairs.

Because the concrete repairs, they have the particular steps, and each step is very critical for the proper execution of the repair And in this particular job, contractor takes photograph of each step, sends it to our office so we can review and take actions as needed to avoid the mistakes and to avoid redoing the repairs in the future.

So that helped big time to streamline the construction and shorten the overall duration. 

Emily Myers: Okay. And so that documentation process, it presumably helped you as engineers to confirm that everything had been done according to your specs, and then you could move on. Is that what you're saying? 

Michael Stripunsky: It helped everybody.

It helped us because we worked more efficiently. It helped the contractor because it reduces the, uh, amount of areas which they had to redo, and it also helped the building owner because it shortened the duration of the construction 

Emily Myers: Okay. And you mentioned earlier that you set this project out based on the board's priorities.

What were those priorities? 

Michael Stripunsky: Street-facing facades. They wanted to address the conditions at street-facing facades, and so we prioritized those areas. We did the inspections and repairs in those areas, and we managed to request and get approval from DOB for partial removal of the sidewalk shed. That's something which building owners may not be aware of, but you don't need to wait for the completion of the entire repair scope.

You can request and remove a section of the sidewalk shed in the area which is completed. Of course, it's up to DOB to approve or disapprove the request, but we have a very high success rate in those kind of requests. 

Emily Myers: Gosh, yeah. That's because the sidewalk sheds are the bane of these projects for the residents, so I'm sure that's hugely welcome.

How did the scope of the work change after your perhaps initial observations? Did your initial observations match what needed to be done, or did the scope of the work change? 

Michael Stripunsky: Well, it didn't change significantly, and that's one of the points I wanted to make, that it's beneficial to invest in the early stage of the project, in the thorough investigation and preparation of tight contract document set, and it pays off during the construction.

And that's basically the philosophy of our company. We're trying to do as much as we can during the early stage of the project to avoid the delays and costly change orders during the construction. 

Emily Myers: Okay. So we've got to the cost, uh, area of this conversation. What is the cost of this project if it's five years?

It's 

Michael Stripunsky: slightly below $10 

Emily Myers: million. Okay. Six buildings over five years, that's pretty standard. Was there perhaps a key decision that shifted this project i- in a positive direction, whether that was your early observations or perhaps getting the right contractor or, or as you mentioned, this sort of construction sequencing?

Michael Stripunsky: I would say it's a combination of things. Definitely the right contractor is very important because you may have the best consulting and the tightest contract documents, but without the proper execution, still the work will not be done correctly. We had a very capable board. We had management company which was making the right decisions.

We had a capable contractor and, of course, Super Structures, so we managed to streamline this project. So it's a combination of things, definitely. 

Emily Myers: Yeah. A five-year facade project can stretch the patience of the most forgiving shareholders or unit owners. But looking back now that the project is, what, 60%, 70% complete?

Michael Stripunsky: It's 90%, 

Emily Myers: yeah. 90% complete. What are the most important lessons for boards facing similar facade restoration projects? 

Michael Stripunsky: I would say the right consultant, the consultant which will, like I said, invest in the earliest stage of the project to avoid the problems during the construction, so that's very critical.

The contractor with experience in this type of work and with this type of challenges. So again, you don't want the contractor to learn on your project, on your building. So it's beneficial to select a contractor with the experience, with the skills, addressing the challenges of these type of projects. And yeah, I would say these are two major components of the successful project.

Emily Myers: Okay. Thank you so much, Michael. 

Michael Stripunsky: You're very welcome. 

Emily Myers: Michael Stripunsky, associate principal at SUPERSTRUCTURES. And our Problem Solved series dives into dozens of real world examples of everything from interior design to major engineering projects like this facade project, with cost savings tips, board-focused strategy, and of course, lessons learned.

If you're a board member with your own story to share, we'd also love to hear from you. Please do get in touch online at habitatmag.com or through the contact details in the monthly print magazine.