No Turning Back

Wednesday finally came…lease signing day. We headed out for the one mile trek across town. We were told to meet the leasing agent at the apartment. Just ask for Frank, don’t worry about his last name, no one knows how to pronounce it. We let the concierge, Luis, know we are there and he waves us through. We arrive at the apartment and Frank waves us in. Our leasing agent is wearing a tee shirt, baggy shorts, and flip-flops. I guess it is casual day at the office. These guys manage fifty properties.

He shows us two copies of the lease to read and says, “Read this over, take all the time you need”, in a slight Brooklyn accent. Toni reads a bit, asks a question, Frank says, “Shore, we can do that, take all the time you need”. Toni reads some more, asks another question, Frank, “Shore, we can do that”. Most of the lease is straightforward then there is a couple of pages of non-standard stuff. We question a couple of the items and Frank just says, “Don’t worry about that, don’t worry about that, we want the customer to be happy”. “If you get in a jam we’ll give you time to pay”. We have a short punch list for him and again he is undaunted, “We can do that”. He makes a call on his cell and a maintenance man appears within seconds to assure Frank that he can get it all done on time. Toni wants some photos taken and later some measurements all met with “Take all the time you need”. Frank, whatever his last name is, is a very accommodating guy.

We are set to take possession on the 20th but we probably won’t move in for a week after that. We still need to get furniture purchased and delivered and cable/internet/phone installed. Fortunately all the other utilities are included with the rent.

So as of last Wednesday we officially graduated from tourists to residents. We have fallen down the rabbit hole and gone through the looking glass. I can definitely tell you that we are not in Kansas anymore.

The building was erected in 1968 and is located just blocks from Central Park, the Museum of Modern Art, the Ed Sullivan Theatre, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square. There are 214 apartments, 39 floors, a rooftop terrace, 24 hour doorman, and full time concierge. The apartment view is average but the location is great. You can click on the map to enlarge it slightly.