These are the questions boards, shareholders, townhouse owners and office managers ask about new entry systems around Cadman Plaza, together with ones raised in Habitat Magazine, Brick Underground, Security Sales and the manufacturer guides we checked, answered for the buildings here.
Doorman towers
Our tower has a doorman around the clock. Can the staff at the desk take the place of the intercom the law calls for?
Not on paper. The Multiple Dwelling Law's intercom rule for post-1968 buildings of eight or more apartments describes equipment: a self-locking main door and an intercommunication system that lets a resident talk to a visitor and release the door. A doorman is a very good service, but staffing levels change with budgets, and the rule does not say a staffed desk satisfies it. In practice, the desk-to-apartment system most towers here already have, together with an entrance panel that works when the desk is empty, covers both the law and the way the building runs.
For a tower built before 1968, such as one dated 1967, the intercom becomes required when tenants in a majority of apartments ask for it in writing. Most co-op boards install and keep a working system long before that point, because residents expect it and because a broken one becomes a repair obligation once it is installed.
When the doorman is in the package room, how does a visitor at the plaza door reach anyone?
Through the entrance panel at that door, set up to match the building's routine. The simplest setting has the panel call the apartment directly whenever the desk does not pick up. Another sends the call to a portable handset or phone the doorman carries, so staff can answer from the package room, the mail room or a floor. Some buildings use both: the panel tries the desk, then the doorman's handset, then the apartment.
Which order works best depends on how the building is staffed at different hours. We go through the day and night shifts with the super or the managing agent, set the panel accordingly, and test it with the desk empty before we leave.
Can the desk console show the garage and service door cameras and open them, without residents being able to?
Yes. Release rights are set per station. The desk console can be given the camera view and the release for the garage pedestrian door, the service entrance and the main lobby, while apartment stations release only the door their visitor is calling from. Residents arriving at the garage door use their own code or card, which opens that door and nothing else unless the board decides otherwise.
We write the release rights for every station into the hand-over record, so the managing agent can see at a glance who can open each door and change it later if the building's policy changes.
Our tower has more than thirty floors. Does the height limit which entry system can run up the riser?
Height matters less than the condition and type of the cable. Multi-tenant systems are built for large buildings: Aiphone states that its GT Series supports up to 5,000 tenant stations on a two-wire bus. What limits a tall tower is usually the length of a run on thin or spliced cable, which can cause weak audio or video on the top floors, and the number of stations each power supply can drive.
We test the riser at the top, middle and bottom before choosing equipment, and where a long run needs it, we add a distribution unit or power supply partway up the building. If the old cable cannot carry video reliably to the highest floors, we say so and price either new riser cable or an audio system for those floors.
Townhouses at the tower base
Our duplex townhouse opens onto the walkway, not the tower lobby. Should its door station join the building's system or stand on its own?
It depends on what you want the desk to do for you. A stand-alone video doorbell or door station is cheaper, can be done for one house at a time, and keeps the townhouse independent of the tower's equipment. A station that joins the building's system lets the desk see your door, lets you call the desk, and puts your door on the same plan and maintenance as every other door in the co-op.
If several townhouse owners want the connected option, it is usually cheaper to wire them together while the tower's system is being replaced. Either way the board normally approves anything on the outside of a townhouse, so we prepare a packet for the board with the station's size, finish and mounting spot.
Couriers keep walking past our townhouse because it faces the plaza rather than a street. What helps them find and ring the right door?
A station that is easy to see and clearly labeled. A lit button visible from the path after dark, the house number or name printed on the station itself, and a station mounted where someone walking along the plaza notices it all cut down on missed deliveries. If the co-op has a standard style for townhouse numbers, we match it.
A video station or doorbell also lets you talk to a courier who is at the wrong door and guide them to yours, or tell them where to leave a parcel. If parcels are a regular problem, the building's package room and the desk are usually the better answer, and the station can tell couriers to go there.
Concrete walls and signal
Our apartment walls are solid concrete. How does a new station get its cable without channels cut into the wall?
By using the cable and the opening the old station already has. In the Cadman Plaza towers, the apartment station is usually fed from the corridor near the entry door, and replacing it in the same position uses the same cable and the same box. That is why we recommend keeping new stations where the old ones were unless there is a strong reason to move them.
If you want the station somewhere else, the choices are a small painted surface raceway from the old position, which is tidy but visible, or a second station that pairs with the first where the system allows. We do not patch or paint walls ourselves; if a route would need an opening in finished plaster, we show you where before the price is set so you can decide.
Our lobby is poured concrete and phones barely get a signal there. Can an app-based panel still reach residents?
It can, as long as the panel does not depend on a cellular signal at that spot. Some app-based panels connect over a built-in cellular radio, and those need decent reception where they are mounted. Others connect over the building's wired internet, which concrete does not affect. On the walkthrough we measure the signal at the panel location and choose accordingly.
Residents' own phones still need a signal or Wi-Fi to receive the call wherever they are. In a concrete tower that usually means apartment Wi-Fi. For residents who would rather not depend on that, the system can keep a wired station in the apartment as well.
Boards, condos and resales
Who in our building should be able to update the directory and codes, and how is that set up?
Usually the managing agent and one or two people at the building, such as the super or the resident manager, with the board deciding who. Most current systems have an administrator role that can add and remove households, change directory entries and issue or cancel codes and cards, and a lower role for desk staff that can only see and release doors.
Our board wants the managing agent's office to update the system remotely, but some shareholders do not want the building online. Is there a middle ground?
Yes. A wired system can run entirely on the building's own cable for calling and releasing, with only the management software connected to the internet, so an outage never stops a resident from answering the door. Habitat Magazine's 2015 report on virtual doormen noted that phone and app services stop working when a building's internet goes down; keeping the core system wired avoids that.
The opposite arrangement, a fully closed system with no remote access, is also common in co-ops. The trade-off is that changes have to be made at the building. We price both so the board can weigh convenience against independence.
Our condo's entry system came from the developer. Before the service contract renews, how do we find out what we actually own?
Start with an inventory. We identify the make and model of every panel, station and controller, check whether the system needs a paid software subscription to keep working, find out who holds the administrator login, and confirm whether the equipment can be serviced by any qualified installer or only through the original vendor. That tells the board what it is paying for and what it would lose if the contract lapsed.
Swiftlane's cost guide says software subscriptions on some cloud systems add $5 to $15 per unit per month. In a building of about 130 units, that is a real line in the budget, so knowing whether the building's system carries one is worth an hour of a technician's time.
Offices, shops and neighbors
Our suite near the courts has a glass entry door in a metal frame. What release can it take, and what will the landlord ask for?
A glass door in an aluminum or steel frame can usually take an electric strike in the frame or an electrified lock in the door, depending on the lock already fitted. An all-glass door with no frame stile needs a different kind of release, and a door on a fire-rated corridor needs hardware that keeps the door's rating. We look at the door before suggesting anything.
Landlords of the office towers near Borough Hall usually ask for the scope, the hardware cut sheets, a certificate of insurance and the hours of work, and some want their own engineer to sign off on anything touching the door or the corridor. We prepare that packet as part of the quote, and the insurance certificate is issued by our broker to the landlord's requirements once the job is awarded.
Our shop on Pineapple Walk shares a back corridor with the residential building. How do we buzz in deliveries without opening the co-op's doors?
By keeping the shop's system entirely separate. A video station at the shop's own delivery door, answered at the counter or on the owner's phone, lets the shop see and admit a driver. That station opens only the shop's door. The doors between the corridor and the residential building stay on the co-op's system, controlled by the desk and the residents.
Because the co-op is the landlord, the shop's lease and the board's rules usually say what may be mounted and where. We plan the shop's station so it never ties into the building's cable or power, which makes approval simpler.
Our building is across Henry Street from the towers. How do we tell whether the Landmarks rules apply to a new panel?
Check whether the building is inside the Brooklyn Heights Historic District. The district runs south from Cadman Plaza West, and parts of its eastern line follow Clinton and Henry Streets, so some buildings close to the park are inside and the towers of the complex are outside. The LPC publishes district maps, and the city's online map of designated buildings shows each lot.
If you are inside, a new panel needs a staff-level permit filed through the LPC's Portico system, and the rules on placement, size and attachment apply. We supply the cut sheet and marked photos for the filing and wait for the permit before mounting.
