Les Gertrude apartments to receive new elevators
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

LAYLI WHYTE Les Gertrude apartments

RED BANK - The replacement of two deficient elevators in the Les Gertrude apartment building is expected to take up to 90 days per elevator, during which tenants will have to get by with limited elevator access.

Dr. Marc Gelber, the owner of the building, said last week that he will do what he can to minimize the inconvenience to tenants during the repairs.

Gelber said that there will be two people who will work full-time everyday during the construction to help tenants as needed.

"We're not doing two at once," he said. "We're doing one at a time to make it easier for everyone."

The elevators at Les Gertrude, Broad Street, have been the topic of discussion since 2003, when, on orders from the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA), Gelber removed the floating platform safety devices from the building's elevators, which allow elevators to move even if the doors are open and there is less than 30 pounds in the car.

Gelber did not replace the floating platform devices with a "positive closing device," which would force the doors to close, allowing the elevator to respond when called until recently.

Initially, the DCA had informed Gelber that he had to remove the floating platforms from his elevators because they posed a safety risk for children, Gelber's attorney Martin McGann said previously.

Gelber has hired New Jersey Elevators to replace the existing elevators, and since the two towers of the building do not connect, residents of the building will not have elevator access to the upper stories while the construction is going on.

Gelber said last week that he will not relocate the tenants on the upper floors of the five-story building, because he has no place to put them.

Although the borough has a tenant relocation ordinance in place, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna said the ordinance may not apply, since the building will still be habitable, and that only the services will be diminished due to the construction work.

Gene Anthony, attorney for the borough's Rent Leveling Board, which ordered Gelber to replace the elevators, said this week that there is nothing within the borough's rent control ordinance that would deal with tenant relocation, but if the tenants of the building desire, they could request a rent reduction from the board for the reduction of services.

"The board would have to determine what the elevator service is worth," said Anthony, "and then they would also have to take into account the services that the landlord is offering to help reduce the burden of having the elevators out of order, and that might mitigate or reduce the rent reduction."

Gelber said that only three apartments in the building are occupied by senior citizens.

"The building used to be full of elderly people," he said. "That's not true anymore."

Gelber said that one of his tenant's daughters contacted him and said her mother would live with her during the construction, and that at least one of his tenants is considering moving out of the building altogether.

"If he wants to break his lease," he said, "I won't stop him, if that's what he feels he needs to do."

Gelber said that he will do all he can to ease the burden on the residents of the upper floors, including having staff on hand to take out garbage for residents, as well as doing laundry and picking up groceries as needed.

"We'll do the best we can," he said. "I did my best to explain our limitations, and there are certain things we can't do. Unfortunately, most of the tenants didn't attend the meeting."

Gelber said that he sent a certified letter to each tenant and additional notices were slipped under every door, but only about 20 tenants in the 42 apartments in the building attended the informational meeting held on Jan. 2.

"My concern is really the people on the higher floors," he said. "We will help out as much as we can."