Special Assessment 2017 – Slides of the Presentation December 2016

Posted on December 30, 2016 by Cecilio Augusto Berndsen

AQUARIUS-3D logo Special Assessment 2017 – Slides of the Presentation of December 2016

These slides were presented at an informational meeting for the owners of the Aquarius Condominium. The presenters were: Messrs. Victor Rocha, Board of Directors Treasurer, Andrew Di Cesare, from Hillman Engineering and Thomas Laubenthal, Principal of Landscape Architect Consultants.

All figures here presented are tentative. Some items do not add to the 15 million dollars of the proposed Special Assessment of 2017 due to a variety of issues. Contracts are under negotiation, some items require Owners approval, cost variance is possible.

It is important to stress two important points:

  1. The Board of Directors is firmly committed to not let the total cost go over the 15 million dollars proposed.
  2. All the numbers are the result of serious diligence. Market surveys, estimates done by consulting experts, solicitation of proposals from vendors of excellent reputation were some of the tools used to put forward a firm, solid and comprehensive proposal. Due to the size and multiple aspects of the several projects, some adjustments are expected.

Special thanks should be given to Messrs. William Coleman, A|P Management Regional Manager and Leonard Finkelberg former Aquarius Cond. Board of Directors member. Mr. Coleman actively worked in securing credit to fund the project as well as have prepared several financial scenarios for the Board of Directors consideration. Mr. Finkelberg worked diligently revising the presentation numbers and indicated several necessary corrections.

Of course, the Board of Directors assumes complete responsibility for any mistakes or omissions of the presentation

If the show of slides does not appear in a clear way it is possible to view it by clicking  here.

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Payment plans for the 40 Year Re-Certification Project of Aquarius – Special Assessment 2017

Posted on December 24, 2016 by Cecilio Augusto Berndsen

AQUARIUS-3D logo Payment plans for the 40 Year Re-Certification Project of Aquarius

Special Assessment 2017 

First Payment March 2017

Intro

The purpose of this post is to give the owners a general and approximate idea of what is being studied with great care and with a strong effort to do everything in the best way, according to construction code, and in the most responsible and economic fiscal manner. The interest and safety of the owners of Aquarius is paramount!

What are the plans?  What is the estimated cost? 

This table has best estimate costs that need to be finally determined by the signature of the contracts with firms responsible for the work. Details for the improvements for the East Pool Deck have been presented in previous posts.2016-12-20-project-total-cost

Notes
* 40 Year Re-Certification project includes East Deck, Pool, Balconies with Railings, Sea Wall, Beach Access, Electrical and External Painting. Also included are the Professional Engineering Fees.

†  Mandatory items subject to Board of Directors vote. Some beautification items are subject to Aquarius Condominium Association membership approval as well.

‡ Discretionary items subject to Aquarius Condominium Association membership approval

How is this going to be paid up?

This is the next logical question. Everyone is aware that the Aquarius property needs repairs. The effort is to make this large project affordable by all. The idea is to minimize the hardship and at the same time and get the project completed in the shortest time possible with the minimum inconvenience.
The table bellow represents payment of the Special Assessment over a period of years. These numbers due to software round up are slightly (pennies) different from the official numbers. Take these a estimates only.
2016-12-20-all-nos-subject-change
The interest being charged in the credit line loan contract is of about 4.75% fixed for 17 years (2 years of interest only and 15 years for amortization).

Some owners are interested in a lump sum payment to avoid interest. Studies are being made to accommodate these payments decisions anytime during the payment of the Special Assessment.

Some owners, with excellent credit, are able to get – as individuals – lower rates than the Aquarius Condominium is being charged. It may make sense to borrow from the individual credit institution and pay the Special Assessment in a lump sum. It is a decision each owner must consider. The Association will make every effort to accommodate individual anticipated partial or full payment with the full discount of any future interest to be charged.

At the end of the 24th month, at the end of the project, there will be a “True Up.” It will be verified the total actually used in the credit line to pay for the construction and the balance will start to be paid up. This means capital plus interest.

The numbers in the tables above contains very conservative assumptions: 1) The construction will require the entire loan amount, 2) There will be some bad debt that will use up the contingency reserve, 3) The contingency will be consumed for very expensive unforeseen circumstances, 4) The interest only will be needed for considerable amount of the loan withdrawn at the beginning of the project, 5) Assumption 4) does not allow for any accumulation saved by a lower value utilized in the line of credit. All these conservative assumptions are not likely to occur but they have been considered in the planning to avoid additional charges and project interruptions. The use of careful planing prevents bad surprises down the future.

It must be repeated that these above numbers are assumptions. Final firm numbers will be more realistic after the celebration of the contracts with the General Contractor for the 40 Year Project, for the Elevators rehabilitation contract, for the contracts for the Hallways renovation and other items.

.o0o.

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Aquarius Community End of Year Celebration

Posted on December 24, 2016 by Cecilio Augusto Berndsen

LOGO LADYAquarius Community End of Year Celebration

On December 24th, 2016 more than one hundred Aquarius Comunity Members got together to celebrate the Holiday Season.

Sam Schmutter and Sherry Smith conducted the lightning of the Hanukka candles and Pamela Ippolito led the lighting of the Christmas Tree with the reading of a beautiful poem.

Both ceremonies were attentively followed with respect and attention by all present. This including the small ones.

After that, the group went to the Aquarius Green Room to enjoy the dishes and deserts brought up by all families. The potluck had the variety of food that parallels the variety of cultures present in the Aquarius community.

2016-12-24-end-year-celeb-3 2016-12-24-end-year-celeb-4 2016-12-24-end-year-celeb-5 2016-12-24-end-year-celeb-1 2016-12-24-end-year-celeb-2

….

It is very important to recognize ladies from Aquarius that helped the Chair of the Social Committee. Hours and hours of hard work to make everything to flow seamlessly. Our local heroes are:
Sherry Smith, Chair of the Social Committee and Leader of most Aquarius social events.
Pamela Ippolito
Larissa Mitnitsky
Emma Smith
Rita Perchuk
Nancy Arman
Zina Chase
Yvana Berndsen
Luba Finkelberg
Nury Gupta
Angela Perrone

Thank you, thank you for your selfless work. You make life in the Aquarius Condominium brighter.

.o0o.

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Aquarius New Beautiful East Pool Deck

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Cecilio Augusto Berndsen

Logo blue girl Aquarius New Beautiful East Pool Deck

2016 2017

This gallery has the most recent renditions of the plans for the East Deck of Aquarius. The stunning proposed East Deck plans are the result of the work of Thomas Laubenthal, RLA. from Landscape Architect Consultants of Plantation, Florida.

These proposal came after several informal meetings with the Construction Committee, Board of Directors and several owners that participated. These vivid gatherings took place in October and November. They were open meetings free to any owner to join. Every participant had a vote. Every participant could address the floor.

Please click in any picture to start the slide show. Need to enlarge the pictures? Read instructions bellow gallery.

 

These Pictures are here posted again. You can use the keys     Crtl and +     (together) to enlarge and be able to verify the details and read the explanations.

pavers-railings-options

Pavers Samples – Similar West Pool Deck

landscape_11-16-16

Landscape Plants

shade-str-options

Shade Structure Options

pool-options

Pool Options

pavilion-bbq-options

Barbecue & Pavilion

pavers_11-16-16

Pavers Samples – Similar West Pool Deck Keeping the Property Standard

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Aquarius Condominiun Maintenance Quotas 2017

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Cecilio Augusto Berndsen

2017-regular-assessment

Approved November 2016

For a printer friendly table click HERE

 

.o0o.

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Elections for the Board of Directors of Aquarius 2017 – List of Candidates

Posted on December 18, 2016 by Cecilio Augusto Berndsen

Elections for the Board of Directors of Aquarius 2017 – List of Candidates

The elections will be held on January 21, 2017. Click on the name of the candidates for additional information and plans.  All links open in a new tab.

Cecilio Augusto Berndsen   –  1005 N

Val Boyarsky   – 201 N

Bhagwan Gupta  – 804

Edward Khmelevsky –   506 S

Roman Kisler –   506  N

Robert Leviyev  – 803 S

Judith Ort  –  1605  N 

Victor Rocha  –  1404 N

Linda Satz   –   1108 N

Ches Shostak  –  1404 S

Nusin Shtern   –  408 N

Candidates that wish to have their information posted could send an email to ceciliob@gmail.com.  Acceptable post-able content is MS Word, text, odt, body of email message. Pictures .jpg, .gif, . png.

.pdf and Apple ‘pages’ format can not be posted at this time.

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It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Posted on December 17, 2016 by Cecilio Augusto Berndsen

logo-capricorn-aquariusIt’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

 

musical-note….It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you “Be of good cheer”
It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Yearpink-musical-note-hipink-musical-note-hipink-musical-note-hi
It’s the happiest season of all....

Click hard any picture to start the slides show!

North Tower Garage Level Entrance
North of Front Lawn
South of Front Lawn
Lobby – Hanukka Menorah Table
Lobby Christmas Tree
South View of the Lawn
North View of the Lawn

Many thanks for our volunteers that put together the decorations of the Season. Some of them are: Sherry Smith, Wendy Miller, Nury Gupta, Zina Chase, Grace Tomaselli, Angela Perrone.

December 24, 2016, 5:30 PM the Aquarius Community Holiday Celebration  at the Cascade Room.  Bring a dish to share and something to drink. Utensils and water will be provided with Potato Latkes.

Please let Zina Chase  tel.: 954-251-7008     or     Nancy  Di  Maria tel.: 954-923-4540 know what are you bringing to better coordinate the effort.

.o0o.

 

 

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Human Population Through Time – American Museum of Natural History

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Cecilio Augusto Berndsen

LOGO SILHOUETTEHuman Population Through Time

Published on Nov 4, 2016 – American Museum of Natural History

It took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion—and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. But growth has begun slowing, as women have fewer babies on average. When will our global population peak? And how can we minimize our impact on Earth’s resources, even as we approach 11 billion?

Do you recycle, reuse, reduce? If not now, when?

There is a small square (bottom right) next to the word 
"youtube" click on it and enlarge the image. It is
 easier to enjoy this ingenious page. Press "escape" and 
return to the normal screen size.

.o0o.

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News on the Gym Bathrooms from the desk of the President

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Cecilio Augusto Berndsen

LOGO WATERNews on the Gym Bathrooms from the desk of the President

 

Finally today, after 10 working days of plumbing leak repairs, changing  PVC pipes to cast iron, and other changes required to meet the code, we reached a milestone by having Passed the inspection.

We were not able to call for a rough in inspection to close the walls, start water proofing of various areas and progressing with any type of tile work thus far. Hopefully, now we can get the other inspection scheduled for Monday, the city inspection office is closed on Fridays.

We have already passed the mechanical and electrical inspections. We can also schedule closing of ceiling and start repair work required in the Green room.

Will keep you posted.

Buck Gupta (from the iPhone)  12-1-16

.o0o.

 

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An Update on the 40 Year Re-certification Program of Aquarius

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Cecilio Augusto Berndsen

LOGO A An Update on the 40 Year Re-certification Program of Aquarius

 

This message was e-mailed to Aquarius Condo. Association members. Nov. 30, 2016:

This mailing is to keep all of the unit owners up to date as to the work mandated by the Forty Year Recertification on our balconies and on the East pool deck.

Some of you have attended all or some of the construction meetings which take place every Thursday, but many of you have not.  At each meeting our engineer and Landscape Architect reports to the construction committee members and answers questions from the floor.  It is always informative and most of all puts many unfounded rumors to rest.

 Balconies:

 Our engineers have prepared a scope of work to repair or replace our balconies.   Several weeks ago tests were conducted on the balconies.  These tests showed a substantial degradation of the compressive strength of the concrete to 25% to 50% of its original strength.  Because some people were not happy with the results they engaged an engineering firm to write a letter questioning the method used.  This firm did not come to the Building nor did it inspect any of the balconies but simply relied on what they were told.  Because of this, the scope of the study was increased and RAS, an engineering firm with no affiliation with our engineering firm, was hired to conduct the redundant  work.  Samples were taken from twenty units chosen randomly.  This was at an additional cost of $12,545.00 and a two-week delay, and it simply confirmed the accuracy of the previous study.The test conclusions confirmed that all our balconies will have to be replaced.  Replacing the balconies will take less time and substantially less money per square foot to replace rather than repair.   Contractors were provided with bid packets and six contractors bid on the project.  Estimated completion time for the project to be 20 to 22 months.

 East Pool Deck:

Several workshops and many construction committee meetings were held for several months in order to present the suggested design for the mandated replacement of the East pool and the East pool deck.

Due to the severe deterioration of the pool and the deck, both must be totally removed and replaced.  Since these items will necessitate a substantial expenditure of funds, Landscape Architect Consultants, Inc. was retained to give us suggestions as to how to improve the layout from its current configuration.  Because of requests by unit owners to have a 6′ deep pool in order to swim laps, and also owner requests for an easy entry for disabled persons, the Landscape  Architect suggested a T shaped pool which would allow a 6′ depth for swimming and the leg would allow for a beach type entry.  Because of requests for more seating in the sun, the Landscape Architect suggested that the pool be moved away from the edge of the deck to allow a second row of seating along the ocean and also along the Trump property.

The sun shade structure is to remain in approximately the same place as it is now, either in canvas as it is now, or replaced with a lowered hurricane proof permanent structure.   All of the planters must be removed and only a few will be replaced allowing for more space.  There were requests for a built-in barbecue, for a covered area with or without a bar with tables and seating, and a louvered hurricane proof permanent structure to replace the awning by the restaurant.  The Landscape Architect put all of these requests into his design.     Check here for the renditions    It opens in a new tab      https://aquariusuno.com/2016/11/29/new-look-for-aquarius-east-deck/

A bid package will be prepared and distributed after final decisions are made on the design.

The membership will be asked to consider all of these suggestions and to vote as to whether we want to spend a little more money to get a lot more from our pool and deck.

Aquarius Beautifulagain <makeaquariusbeautifulagain@gmail.com>

.o0o.

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