Landlord Can Replace Manually Operated Elevator with Automatic Elevator

Landlord applied to the DRA for permission to modify elevator service at the building by replacing a manually operated elevator with an automatic elevator. The DRA ruled for landlord on the condition that former elevator operators be employed as doormen, that the number of employees remain the same, and that any MCI rent increase granted for elevator upgrading not include the cost of the conversion to automatic operation or the cost of the new intercom system. Tenants appealed, claiming that the discontinuance of the manual elevator was a decrease in building security. The DHCR ruled against tenants. The use of the former elevator operators as 24-hour, seven-day doormen/concierges was a new service being provided to tenants. Combined with landlord's installation of a concierge station in the lobby and an intercom system with closed-circuit TV and door monitoring, landlord was providing essentially the same level of security as had previously existed with the elevator operators. This was an adequate substitution of service. The closed-circuit TV system included a camera in the elevator.

71 Park Ave.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. KB430161RT (10/30/97) [3-page document]