'High-Rise Hell': N.Y.C. Skyscraper's Elevator Breakdowns Strand Tenants

[Demovictory9]

The 59-story building, at 20 Exchange Place, is now a bustling residential high-rise with more than 750 apartments, featuring luxury amenities, stunning harbor views and some rent-stabilized units.

----------------------

Since November, the skyscraper has been plagued by long elevator outages that have turned daily life upside down and trapped residents with mobility issues inside their apartments. Elevator service is unpredictable and often nonexistent, for hours at a time, above the 15th floor. The elevators that service only the lower floors have continued to work, even as the outages in the others have grown more frequent in the last two months.

------------------

In interviews and emails, more than a dozen residents told The New York Times about living in what one of them described as “high-rise hell,” and about how they have reorganized their lives as a result. They have canceled plans, missed appointments, been late for work, ditched heavy strollers, contemplated moving. (But how do you move out of a high-rise without a reliable elevator?)

“Our lives completely changed the moment these elevators stopped working,” said Faisal Al Mutar, 30, who lives in a studio on the 22nd floor.

Those who are able have climbed many, many stairs. One young software engineer, in fact, has gotten so used to the hike that he signed up for the 102-story Tunnels to Towers charity climb at One World Trade Center in June.

After working a recent 12-hour shift as a nurse, Erin Campbell had to trek to the 48th floor of 20 Exchange Place to reach her apartment because of elevator outages.Credit...Amir Hamja for The New York Times

“I just started crying,” she recalled. “I’m a young, in-shape person, so I can do it. But it’s miserable.”



https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/nyregion/nyc-elevator-outage-20-exchange-place.html?action=click&module=card&pageType=theWeekenderLink

[3Hotdogs]

1. I guess that repaired would require the elevators to be out of commission for days or weeks.

Does the fire department have any say over the management? Is it a condo or a rental?

[NoMoreRepugs]

2. I feel for these people. I visited my son in Guangzhou years

back and his buildings elevators were out for a few days. Going up 40+ flights of stairs in 90+ degree weather kicked my ass.

[Demovictory9]

3. I can't even imagine. Once I day, I would climb 10 stories for cardio

i would be huffing and puffing at the 10th

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. Every damn time I climbed them , most times carrying things

I’d need another shower. It was glorious once they were fixed.

[multigraincracker]

5. Rent strikes, lawsuits, hit em in the wallet because

money is the language they speak.

[brush]

6. Exactly. Organize to not pay rent because of the outage. And once...

they're fix, don't not pay the whole back rent. Take out an appropriate percentage for the inconveniences suffered by the tenants/owners.

Maybe even no back rent paid if the outages last for a whole month.