Annual Meeting -- May 17, 2000 Presidential Address Elizabeth Anne VanderPutten, Ph.D.

Welcome to the 20^th annual meeting of the Lauren Condominium Association. Twenty years ago when we converted the building from the Sunderland Apartments we had high hopes for the building. This was the first of the owner conversions – and we were neophytes at the game. We had many contentious meetings over what to do, how to do it, how we would govern ourselves. But we did manage to borrow the $10 million or so necessary to buy the building and hired a developer to do the conversion. Our first year, we were unable to get a clean audit – which is a terrible thing for a condo. We had to raise condo fees 18% the first year and then have an additional raise in the middle of the year. Many of us lived in dread of the almost daily papering of the building by the discontented owners.

I remember many Board and Annual Meetings that bordered on the uncivil, to say the least. I also remember times where our reserves dropped to less than $30,000 and another time that we were just told that the bricks on the face of the building were falling and we faced close to $1 million in repairs.

With this background, it is a pleasure to report tonight on the state of the Lauren. For those of you who are fairly new, the name change was on behalf of the developer. He gave us all $1,000 if we would name the building after his newly born daughter. We have lost all contact with him but I hope she has matured as nicely as we have as a building

This has been a good year. As the Treasurer will undoubtedly point out, our finances are in good shape. We were able to have a 1% increase in condo fees after last year’s 0%. Reserves are up – partially due to continued contributions, but also to some fortuitous events. Several years ago, the roofing consultant we use told us that we would have to replace the roof by 2000. Last year, after another inspection, he recommended only that we replace the back roof where the chiller is and do some minor repairs. The estimated life of the roof is 20 years, so we still have to plan for that expense, but in the meantime, the reserves grow with interest.

We completed or almost completed some of the projects discussed last year. The new laundry equipment is in – and any day now we will have the credit cards in place. I for one will be glad not to have to lug quarters around.

We haven’t completed work yet but are hopeful that this summer we will finally have high speed internet/cable access with StarPower.

I personally hate anything to do with decorating – and for the last few years that seems to have taken an inordinate amount of board time. This year, I am pleased with the furniture in the lobby. As I tell everyone, I did not choose the rug (thought it wouldn’t work as they say) and more or less deferred to others for the furniture. I’m glad – their taste is definitely better than mine. I really enjoy walking in to the lobby. Now I know others would still like us to replace the old tile in the lobby to make it more compatible with the upper lobby and we are getting quotes on that. Adrienne Simenhoff deserves most of the credit for this, as do the board members who showed remarkable patience and diligence.

Last year, many complained about the noise in the neighborhood. I appointed a noise committee headed by Brian Larkin and consisting of Jason Juffras and David Lilling. They achieved a lot – notably the signs that tell busses not to loiter and fairly consistent enforcement of the 7:00 am starting time for work in the buildings next door. Roger Hirschland has gotten agreement from the city to install a traffic signal on 20^th street – but now we must await the city’s implementation schedule.

We have also done some behind the scenes repairs including upgrading some chiller equipment and Insulating pipes.

Thanks to Walter Krolman, I believe the staff have performed very well this year. Despite the incredibly tight labor market, we have had virtually no turnover. We all continue to delight in the beautiful gardens brought to us by Cacho, other staff and Don Benedict.

Probably one of the best things to report this year is that the value of our units is up – both in terms of rental and sales. This reflects in part, of course, the overall improvement of the district and an interesting increase in sales of condominiums around the country. But it also reflects our strong capital position, constantly redecorated building, shining laundry, enviable roof garden, services and friendly neighbors.

There is another reason why out building is today an "enviable" place to live and that is the Board itself. The current Board is a highly committed, highly ethical group of people. We do not always agree, which is good, but we always act in what we believe are the best interests of the building. – This is our home and is a major investment for us. We do more than just meet a few hours a month -- we all take our responsibilities seriously. It has been a pleasure to work with each person.

I mentioned the rather contentious debates that marked the beginning of our condominium. One of the areas was what is the nature of the building –- residential, SP2 or a mixture. The original documents state that no more than 20% of the building could be SP2. Almost from the beginning this has led to disputes which unfortunately do continue today. I know that after the elections, we will hear about a petition that has circulated by the Owners' Committee for the Normalization of the Lauren. I hope that this and the discussion that follows will help end – or provide a means to an end – of the remaining disagreements.