PUBLISHED BY MOSHOLU PRESERVATION CORPORATION

Tracey Work Speeds Up

By HEATHER HADDON

Long overdue improvements at Tracey Towers seem to be finally in the works after an elevator catastrophe earlier this year spurred management into action.

Four out of 12 of the towers’ elevators have been replaced since work began last April, according to Tracey’s administrators, R-Y Management. Two crews are now working on the project, speeding up its pace considerably beyond the previously estimated completion date of 2007.

“It will be finished in 2006,” said Dan Durante, who manages R-Y’s Bronx properties. “A lot is happening.”

The elevators in the colossal buildings have been in serious disrepair for years, a situation dramatically highlighted when a Chinese delivery man got stuck in one for four days last spring. R-Y has since made more effort to address maintenance deficiencies and respond to tenants.

R-Y secured funds for the elevators last year through a much-maligned rent hike. The company recently obtained another loan through the city Department of Housing, Preservation and Development of roughly $4 million. That money is going to the elevators, new roofs, façade repairs and boiler replacements.

Durante said that new boilers have been ordered, and work on the worst of them will start soon. Tracey suffered from unreliable heat and hot water last winter due to the antiquated heating system.

The buildings’ community room was also rehabbed and painted last summer. “They’ve repaired a lot of things,” said Sallie Caldwell, a resident.
 

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