6
L E H A V R E
N E W S
A P R I L Le Havre Lobby & Hallway Renovations
6 LEHAVRE COURIER | APRIL 2018 | WWW.QNS.COM
BY JILL DAVIS
It took two years of research, planning, interviewing
and preparation to get the Le Havre Lobby &
Hallway Project going, but the end product will
certainly be worth the wait. This is not a mere touch
up of the lobbies and hallways—far from it. Every
lobby, hallway and laundry room in all of Le Havre’s
32 buildings will be undergoing a complete and total
renovation.
The Le Havre Courier sat down with Board
President Stanley Greenberg, Vice President Steve
Young and Property Manager Margaret Costello
to talk about this enormous project and how they
approached the challenge.
First, it was clear that it was time for a major
update: The lobbies were last renovated more than 30
years ago. “The walls were done when the complex
was converted to a co-op back in 1983,” Stanley
explained. Steve added that the current mailboxes
are “ancient,” and the “marble in the lobbies was
cracked, the carpets were beginning to show their
age, and the wallpaper in the hallways was very
worn.”
The Board considered doing improvements gradually
and consulted with no fewer than eight different
companies about how and what to do. “We came
to the conclusion that rather than do it piecemeal,”
Stanley said, “the best way was to go ahead and redo
everything.”
And by everything, we mean everything. The
renovation includes not only walls and flooring, but
new peepholes, mirrors, light fixtures…the list goes
on. There will even be new “LVT” (which stands for
“luxury vinyl tile”) installed on the laundry room
floors.
Corridors Inc. was finally selected as the vendor,
who brought in two designers to pull the look together.
“We were really blown away by what they showed
us,” Steve said.
Even with that professional advice, the Board’s
decisions seemed endless—but the process was also
educational. “We had some interesting learning about
different things,” Margaret said, “such as 42 oz.
versus 36 oz. carpet; to make sure that solution dyed
bleach resistant carpet was used; to use cut and loop
carpet versus cut pile (cut and loop won) and whether
to paint or use wallpaper.” (Wallpaper won.)
There were also obstacles that were out of Le
Havre’s control, the biggest one of which was dictated
by none other than the U.S. Post Office. “The post
office said we couldn’t put in new mailboxes unless
we also put in parcel boxes outside each building,”
Steve said. This was not optional. “And they also told
us there has to be one box for every ten apartments,”
Margaret said, “so there will be three parcel lockers
mounted on the exterior wall near the lobby door in
each building.”
Stanley and Steve would like to thank Board mem-
A rendering of the new hallways