Volume 69 | December 2024 | | | ELEVATOR WORLD New York is EW's free monthly newsletter focusing on vertical-transportation news in the Greater New York Region. Contact the EW Editorial Department to submit news or the EW Advertising Department to advertise and reach more than 5,000 subscribers in the New York area. | | | | G-TECH ELEVATOR SYSTEM FOR NEW LIC LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE | | | Review Avenue Complex; image courtesy of Innovo Property Group | Elevator materials at the jobsite earlier this month; image courtesy of Brock Glenn | | Linden, New Jersey-headquartered G-Tech Elevator Associates LLC tells ELEVATOR WORLD it provided a six-unit elevator system to Review Avenue Complex, a new Class A logistics warehouse at 28-90 Review Avenue in Long Island City (LIC), Queens. Developed by Innovo Property Group, the 736,400-ft2 complex includes four stories of warehouse-parking/loading space with ground-floor and rooftop parking. There are four overhead traction freight elevators with 12,000-lb capacity that travel at 200 ft/min. These have Hollister-Whitney governors and safeties, EMS door equipment and Imperial 908 OB machines. Two of the units are machine-room-less traction elevators with 3500-lb capacity that travel at 350 ft/min. These have GAL door equipment and Imperial 478 machines. All six elevators implement BTS Elevator packages with Elsco roller guides and MCE 4000 controllers. Review Avenue Complex is expected to be delivered in fall 2025. | | | | TEI GROUP REPOSITIONS ELEVATORS AT 222 BROADWAY | | | 222 Broadway; photo © John W. Cahill for the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat | | TEI Group tells ELEVATOR WORLD it was contracted by Leeding Builders Group to reposition seven traction elevators — including four extension elevators — at 222 Broadway in Manhattan's Financial District. The 31-story former Western Electric Building was completed in 1961 and is currently undergoing conversion of its 756,138 ft2 into nearly 800 apartments, The Real Deal (TRD) was among outlets to report. In a December 12, 2024, piece, "Year of the Conversion: Top Project Filings of 2024," TRD observed that 222 Broadway is among the office-to-residential conversions taking four of the top five spots in its tally of the biggest project filings of 2024. A deep discount, the source noted, was the catalyst that propelled Jeff Gural's GFP Real Estate to partner with TPG Real Estate to buy the property in March 2024 for US$150 million, less than one-third of the price previously paid for it in 2014. | | | | CHALLENGING HUDSON VALLEY MODERNIZATION A "TESTAMENT TO TEAMWORK" | | | Manhattan-based Champion Elevator Corp. recently completed a transformative elevator modernization at a nursing home in Rhinebeck, NY, that Champion President Don Gelestino describes as a "testament to teamwork and precision." Despite posing unique spatial and rigging challenges, the innovative project was delivered on time and under budget. For the 3500-lb capacity, 1:1 roped elevator that travels 60 ft at 200 ft/min, a top-of-the-line gearless ACPM Imperial 525 machine replaced an existing Armor 1:1 geared machine, enhancing performance and reliability. Additional upgrades included a refurbished cab interior; GAL door-operating equipment; modern fixtures and controller; roller guides, rope gripper, governor and tension sheave; and buffers and pit steel enhancements. Gelestino said the building's layout and confined spaces required meticulous planning and the use of a crane to maneuver heavy equipment. Adding to the complexity, the elevator was out of service during the engineering survey, making data collection a formidable task. In the end, Champion's expertise and ingenuity resulted in a fully modernization elevator system that exceeds industry standards, as well as ensures safety, efficiency and comfort for the nursing home's residents and staff. | (l-r) Champion Vice President of Safety & Risk Management Gary Holzman, Scott Bajar and Zak Schoeffler | | | The new machine is transported to the site. | | | | | RECORD SALE MARKS TURNAROUND FOR ONE HIGH LINE | | | The sale of Penthouse 36 at One High Line, the pair of 402- and 302-ft-tall twisting towers designed by Bjark Ingels Group (BIG) at 500 West 18th Street in Chelsea in the High Line, for a record-breaking US$47 million signals a turnaround for a property once viewed as symbol of overzealous development, The Real Deal recently reported. The project was originally developed as XI by HFZ in 2014, then sat unfinished and went into foreclosure as a result HFZ's unpaid debts. The Witkoff Group and Access bought it in 2021 for US$900 million and accelerated construction, buoyed by US$1.15 billion in refinancing. The Penthouse 36 sale is the most expensive closing in downtown Manhattan in 2024, and follows sales of the four other penthouses — each for more than US$24 million. One High Line's elevator system was provided by TK Elevator (TKE), which tells ELEVATOR WORLD the system includes eight gearless elevators with TKE's TAC32T controllers. | One High Line; image courtesy of BIG | | | SCHINDLER METACORE: POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO OFFICE VACANCIES | | | The U.S. office vacancy rate hit a record high of 20.1% in the second quarter of 2024, according to ratings service Moody's. To combat this, big cities have created incentives for office-to-residential conversions to fill the empty space, but many older buildings have elevator cores that serve only fixed floors for fixed purposes, with no easy way to change their functionality, Engineering News-Record reports. Schindler Elevator's MetaCore is a suite of operations software and Internet of Things sensors that can react to specific people entering a building and prepare elevators as needed, with service to offices, retail, hotels or residences, optimizing the number of lifts needed. Smartphones, chip cards or temporary access codes can be used to identify users and their likely destinations. MetaCore technology supports a "vertical village" concept that not only allows one core to serve multiple uses, but even opens up individual floors to have both offices and residential sections. The system can also reconfigure the elevator car to custom applications, with different lighting and music playing. | | | | MCINERNEY PROMOTED TO PRESIDENT OF METRO ELEVATOR NEW YORK | | | | | Metro Elevator announced earlier this month that Kevin McInerney has been promoted to president of Metro Elevator New York. With Metro Elevator nearly four years, McInerney joined the company from Schindler, where he held roles including president of the NYC metropolitan area (Slade Elevator), major projects sales manager and key account project manager over more than nine years. He holds a bachelor's degree in business and finance from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. "Our New York customers and partners can be confident that Kevin's leadership will continue to elevate the exceptional service they've come to expect," Metro Elevator stated. "His commitment to fostering strong relationships and delivering excellence will remain a cornerstone of our operations in the region." | | | | ARCHI-TREAD RELOCATING FROM N.J. TO FLORIDA | | | After operating in Boonton, New Jersey, for approximately 10 years, Archi-Tread,® Inc., is relocating its corporate office to business-friendly Florida. The N.J. shop will close during the weeks of Christmas and New Year, and reopen in Florida on January 6, 2025. The new corporate office address is 25114 Longmeadow Drive, Punta Gorda, FL 33955. Archi-Tread is a fabricator, installer and supplier of elevator entrance and cab sills founded by Scott Akin and originally located in a 1,000-ft2 barn in Kinnelon, N.J., a small borough approximately 33 mi. from NYC. Akin was awarded a U.S. patent for his Sillskin® modernization product in 2016. Sillskin, essentially a covering or veneer for an old sill, remains among Archi-Tread's top sellers. Archi-Tread sills are found in diverse locations including the Bristol Meyers SquibTM R&D facility in Lawrenceville, N.J., and the PriceWaterhouseCoopers accountancy in Florham Park, N.J. | | | | ECNY ANNOUNCES 2025 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM | | | The Elevator Conference of New York (ECNY) has announced its 2025 scholarship program, which will offer a minimum of two US$5,000 scholarships to high school seniors who are graduating in 2025. If ECNY receives more than 10 applications, there is the possibility for additional scholarships of various amounts. Eligibility is open to any daughter, son, stepchild or grandchild of an ECNY member in good standing. The deadline for submissions is March 14, 2025. Individual members may submit one application per household, and corporate members may submit up to five applications — one per household — including employees of the corporate member company. The scholarship application can be found here. | | | | GELESTINO APPOINTED TO MOLLOY UNIVERSITY'S PRESIDENT'S ADVISORY COUNCIL | | | Don Gelestino and his wife, Nadine, at the 2024 Annual Gala; image courtesy of Don Gelestino | | Champion Elevator Corp. President and CEO Don Gelestino has been appointed to Molloy University's prestigious President's Advisory Council. As a respected leader and advocate for education and community growth, Gelestino will advance the university's mission through providing strategic insight, fostering partnerships, advocating for the university's initiatives and supporting philanthropic opportunities. Those selected for the President's Advisory Council are strategic thinkers who are adept at building relationships, mentoring and networking. The news of Gelestino's appointment came on the heels of Molloy University's 2024 Annual Gala in November at The Lannin in East Meadow. Founded in Long Island in 1955 and now offering more than 50 majors and 26 graduate and doctoral degrees, Molloy University is a private Roman Catholic university with more than 4,800 students. | | | | MODERN ELEVATOR PROVIDES TWO NEW ELEVATORS AT QUEENSBORO PLAZA STATION | | | The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) tells ELEVATOR WORLD Modern Elevator provided two new Americans with Disabilities (ADA)-compliant elevators unveiled to the public on December 12 at the Queensboro Plaza subway station near the east end of the Queensboro Bridge. The US$69-million project was made possible through funding from the Federal Transportation Administration. In addition to one elevator connecting the street and mezzanine levels and another connecting the mezzanine to both platforms, the project includes expansion of the mezzanine by approximately 2,100 ft2, a new street stairway and new ADA-compliant boarding areas with new platform edges. Nearly 100,000 daily riders will benefit from the more accessible station, NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said, adding: "Accessibility is a key part of what we do at Transit, and as we bring more elevators online, I'm thrilled that our teams have also been delivering historically strong elevator performance with the fewest outages in over a decade." | | | A worker polishes the handrail inside one of the new elevators; image courtesy of MTA | | | | OSHA EXPANDS DEPLOYMENT OF VUZIX M400 SMART GLASSES | | | The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has expanded deployment of Vuzix M400TM smart glasses by placing an order for additional devices, Vuzix® Corp. announced on December 2. With offices in Rochester, NY, and Kyoto and Okayama, Japan, Vuzix is a designer and manufacturer of AI-driven smart glasses and augmented-reality (AR) technologies and products for the enterprise, medical, defense and consumer markets. Vuzix announced in December 2022 that elevator manufacturer Fujitec was deploying Vuzix M400 smart glasses to support elevator maintenance and training for engineers in Japan. All additional devices ordered by OSHA will be equipped with subscription-based Zoom licenses to support their goal of boosting operational efficiency with safety during field inspections and service activities. The expanded order followed two years of "rigorous trials, training and system refinements, during which OSHA officials gained proficiency with the smart glasses' setup and software," Vuzix said. There are concerns, however. Law firm Fisher Phillips said the continuous use of cameras and recording features "raises significant questions about whether their use might violate constitutional protections and even OSHA's own policies concerning the use of recording devices during inspections and interviews." | | | A worker wearing Vuzix M400 smart glasses; image courtesy of Vuzix Corp. | | | | VANTAGE ELEVATOR SOLUTIONS WELCOMES NEW CCO TOMASINO | | | | | Vantage Elevator Solutions, headquartered in the Bronx, announced in November that Justin Tomasino has joined the company as chief commercial officer (CCO). Tomasino has more than 35 years' experience in the elevator industry, having worked for KONE and Otis. At Otis, he advanced through various roles in sales, sales management and general management. Notably, he served as president of Unitec Elevator, NY, during his time with Otis. He joined KONE in 2006, where he led the service and modernization departments in the NY and northern New Jersey districts. He was later promoted to vice president of the New York District, overseeing sales and operations in the NYC metropolitan area, New Jersey and Philadelphia markets. A licensed NYC elevator inspector, Tomasino earned a BS degree from Boston University. | | | IN MEMORIAM: THOMAS LAWRENCE AVENI | | | | | Thomas Lawrence Aveni, who owned Paterson, New Jersey-headquartered EDI-ECI Inc. until 2014, passed away on November 16 at age 85. A native New Yorker who was born at Yonkers Hospital, Aveni graduated from Fordham University's School of Pharmacy in 1961, going on to serve in the U.S. Army and work as a pharmacist in NYC. Elevators entered the picture when he went to work for his father-in-law's company, Elevator Doors Inc. (EDI), while still working as a pharmacist. His father-in-law, Jim, mentored and taught Aveni, who would come to lead what would become known as EDI-ECI (Elevator Cabs Inc.) upon Jim's retirement. Aveni became president and CEO and, in 1988, bought the company. The project of which Aveni was most proud was a modernization and renovation of the elevators at the Statue of Liberty. After a successful career and offices in New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts, Aveni retired and moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with his beloved wife, Dorrie. His favorite family place was their farmhouse in Towaco, New Jersey, built in 1853. It was there Aveni and his wife raised five children. Aveni's survivors include his wife, Dorrie; children, Cynthia, Tamara, Julie, Robert and Christopher; eight grandchildren; and sister, Patricia. | | | LENDERS INITIATE FORECLOSURE ON RXR'S HISTORIC HELMSLEY BUILDING | | | Sculptures and clock over the entrance to the Helmsley Building; photo by Beyond My Ken for Wikipedia | | | Following RXR defaulting on a US$670-million mortgage loan backing the historic 35-story Helmsley Building adjacent to Grand Central Terminal at 230 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in 2023, lenders have initiated foreclosure proceedings, The Real Deal reports. In addition to that mortgage, the office tower has an additional US$125 million in mezzanine debt with Morgan Stanley and Brookfield. These funds position the firms to assume the mortgage and control the building once the foreclosure process concludes. RXR bought the 1.4-million-ft2 property in 2015 from Invesco, Monday Properties and South Korea's National Pension Service for US$1.2 million. Thanks in part to the pandemic and soaring vacancy rates, the building's appraised value has fallen considerably — last month to US$770 million. The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the building, built in the late 1920s and designed by Warren & Wetmore, a Historic Landmark in 1987, and its elevator system was a major deciding factor. Elevator cabs and banks feature striking details such as ornamental bronze and Chinese red doors and indicators. The word "elevator" appears 50 times in the LPC's 1987 historic designation document, which mentions that the cabs were reconstructed by National Elevator Cab & Door Corp. (NECD) and Millar Elevator Co. | | | Cab interior; image courtesy of NECD | | Cab ceiling; image courtesy of NECD | | | GREGORIO AMONG LIC BID EXPANSION STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS HONORED | | | Mark Gregorio, president of Long Island City (LIC)-headquartered TEI Group, was among members of the LIC Business Improvement District (BID) Expansion Steering Committee honored by the LIC Partnership recently, TEI Group announced. Gregorio is among local community and business leaders tasked with analyzing the feasibility of expanded BID services — one on the east side of Sunnyside Yards and one on the west side — in an effort to create a cleaner, safer and more cohesive LIC, Queens. NYC has 76 existing BIDS — public/private organizations where the property owners within a defined geographical area finance supplemental services and improvements beyond those provided by the city. Services are generally related to sanitation, public safety, marketing and beautification. more details on the proposed LIC BID expansion can be found here. | | | image courtesy of LIC Partnership | | | February 10-11, 2025 For more information, visit website. | | March 12-13, 2025 For more information, visit website. | | April 9, 2025 For more information, visit website. | | | Editorial submissions, reprint permission requests and subscription/removal requests should be sent to the ELEVATOR WORLD Editorial Department. EW New York editorial staff: Angela C. Baldwin, Kaija Wilkinson and Lindsay Fletcher. The EW Editorial Calendar can be downloaded here. ELEVATOR WORLD New York is a registered trademark, and all rights are reserved. Copyright 2024 © Elevator World, Inc. | | | Copyright © 2024 Elevator World, Inc., All rights reserved.
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