High Meadow is a cooperative apartment complex of 185 garden apartments in Ossining, New York. Managed by Stillman Management since 1995, the complex required strategic planning to put into place the financing and logistics for a number of capital improvements.

As a first step, the Stillman Management team negotiated with various lenders to secure a new mortgage. NCB Bank, with whom Stillman has a long-standing relationship, presented the most favorable terms, lowering High Meadow’s interest rate and mortgage principal and freeing up close to $3 million to place into a reserve fund for infrastructure improvements throughout the complex. Projects financed with the reserve fund include repair to and renovation of the parking lots and sidewalks, replacement of exterior and storm doors on most units, and replacement of oil tanks. In 2011, High Meadow’s Stillman Management team worked closely with engineers, contractors, the Village of Ossining, and the High Meadow board of directors to repair the retaining walls and control erosion alongside a brook that runs through the complex.

Capital improvements were entirely paid for with funds from the mortgage refinancing and a shareholder assessment was avoided.