West 135th St. Study

In collaboration with noted developer, Jonathan Rose Companies [JRCo]; upgrades were planned for their ten-building, 198-unit complex on West 135th Street; a storied Harlem block capped by the Schomburg Library on the East and the Harlem YMCA to the West.

Initially brought in as local architects for Construction Phase services on a limited-scope improvement package, our work expanded to include new entrance stoop design and a property-wide condition assessment.

  • This comprehensive scoping exercise demonstrates the care and concern by Jonathan Rose Companies for its tenants and its commitment to creating and maintaining high standards in its affordable housing. The ongoing work also showcases their commitment to environmentally-conscious management, with the integration of energy-efficient lighting and renewable, locally-sourced materials.

    Our conditions assessment on 135th Street was led by associate, Dyana Berthaud. She visited every apartment, meeting every tenant, and reviewing construction with the JRCo team throughout the entire complex. This all happened in the spring and summer of 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, making the work all the harder for residents, and for us. We put in place safety protocols, and collected meticulous data on every apartment; listening to residents, tenant organizers, and management.

    We took special care to consider residents’ concerns, solicit and address their complaints, and work within their schedules. Inspections involved brief visits to occupied apartments, where photographs and data were entered into the software, recording the findings. We also met with and sometimes were accompanied by the president and/or building captains of the development’s Tenant Association. In all cases the tenant was asked about problems they had noted, and their comments were included in the data. The team got added input from the contractors responsible for ongoing renovations; the tenant liasons; and the buildings’ superintendent.

    The final report was crafted to best help management identify problems and craft effective solutions. It not only presented raw data; it analyzed it to understand the underlying problems and systemic flaws in the buildings and in how they were managed. The document was designed carefully to be useful to a busy, highly staffed developer client, with information presented in simple graphics that would help a senior executive digest the main points quickly while giving more junior staff data to back it up. The report also included clear recommendations for renovation priorities and management changes that would address residents’ concerns systemically.

 

Client: Jonathan Rose Companies
Location: West 135th St. New York, NY
Category: Amenity Improvements
Completion: 2020
Team: Dyana Berthaud

A circular pie graphs depicts overall apartment quality of 135th St. Complex as: 42% in good condition, 27% in poor condition, 19% with no access, 10% in good condition, and 2% refusal to access.
This line graph depicts the scope of items in "poor" frequency, listing flooring, kitchen, bathroom, and paint as the top 4 statstics.
The outdoor facade of West 135th Street's apartment complex features 5 floors of fire escapes against the tan brick wall.
flooring poor.JPG
IMG_7481.JPG
baseboard poor.JPG
The interior of a clean, empty West 135th Street apartment building has four large windows illuminating a kitchen, living area, and parallel hallway connecting an unoccupied bedroom.
A close-up of a floating white bathroom sink with a pink shower curtain in the background.
The outside facade of West 135th Street's apartment entrance has 3 steps bordered by iron railings and two ornate flat columns framing the black single door.
The underneath of an apartment sink is outlined by cracked loose wooden boards that attempt to cover up the exposed pipe.
The outside street view of West 135th features an empty clean sidewalk lined with thin trees.
A downwards view of a white floor vent that is appropriately sealed to the cream wall.
An across-the-street exterior viewing of West 135th Street's apartment complex against a clear blue sky.
Another interior of a clean, empty West 135th Street apartment building that has four large windows illuminating a kitchen, living area, and parallel hallway connecting to an unoccupied bedroom.
A close-up of an apartment kitchen cabinet that features a broken wooden drawer with no face.
The interior of an apartment kitchen has extensive wooden cabinetry, white appliances, and clean cream-colored walls.
The interior of a clean white bathroom featuring a yellow wall, white tiling, and a wall-mounted mirror.
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