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No takeout delivery, though—not with a Liberty Island address.
By Lisa Fickenscher in Crain’s New York Business
David Luchsinger, a National Park Service veteran, is used to living simply. He and his wife, Debbie, reside in an 876-square-foot bungalow that was built in the 1940s and lacks such amenities as a dishwasher—or even kitchen cabinets. Their front-entrance storm door is short and leaves a yawning gap at the bottom.
But the Luchsingers aren’t complaining. They inhabit prime waterfront property in a singular corner of the city that no amount of money can buy.
The couple are the only occupants of Liberty Island. They live in the middle of New York Harbor courtesy of Mr. Luchsinger’s job as superintendent of Liberty and Ellis islands. The post, which he assumed in July 2009, puts him in charge of 450 employees and an annual budget of $16 million.
“One of the most amazing things about living here is to see Manhattan, Brooklyn, New Jersey and Staten Island, and yet it’s so quiet,” says Mr. Luchsinger, sitting in his living room, which has heart-stopping views of lower Manhattan. Nothing beats the evening stroll the pair take after the 15,000 daily visitors have departed, he says.
The Luchsingers are always aware of a special presence. “Every day you see something different about the statue, depending on the lighting,” Mr. Luchsinger says. “Her face seems to change and sometimes she looks masculine. Other nights she seems softer.”
They also do not take their unique home, which they rent from the federal government, for granted. “It’s an honor to be in this position,” says Mr. Luchsinger, 60, who was most recently superintendent of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in New Orleans.
The couple are now the last remaining link to an era during which Liberty Island was home to a small community of Park Service families housed in half a dozen buildings.
“Children grew up here,” Mrs. Luchsinger says. “They had playsets in the yard and took the ferries to school.”
The federal government reassessed its role as a landlord after 9/11, when it seemed that the Statue of Liberty was suddenly painted with a giant bulls-eye.
“It gave the government pause, having families living on Liberty Island,” says Frank Mills, Mr. Luchsinger’s deputy superintendent. Mr. Mills lived there for 10 years with his wife and two sons before relocating to Manhattan a year ago.
The Park Service tripled its staff between Sept. 11 and July 2009, when Liberty’s crown reopened. A focus of the hiring was increased security for both Ellis and Liberty islands, which are patrolled 24/7. Four of the six homes on Liberty Island were converted to places for workers to take breaks, eat meals and change clothes.
Limited transportation
The Luchsingers embrace their role as caretakers and ambassadors, welcoming the world to their special neighborhood. This summer, when the Park Service began offering evening tours of Liberty Island for the first time, they would stand at the dock mingling with visitors and wave as the ferry pulled away.
Life on the 13-acre island does have challenges. Transportation is limited to public ferries, which run every 20 minutes until 6:15 p.m., or to infrequent Park Service staff boats.
Mrs. Luchsinger likens her daily routine to “being a pilgrim.” While her husband uses staff boats to hop between the islands he oversees, she must navigate multiple schedules to get groceries or do anything else off the island. To avoid crowds, she usually leaves on the 6:55 a.m. staff boat and retrieves her car on Ellis Island, which is connected to New Jersey by a small bridge. There, she joins the legions of suburbanites for whom jumping in the car to fetch a forgotten item at the supermarket is no big deal.
Although the city is tantalizingly near, nights on the town—to see a play or movie, or simply to eat out—are rare.
“That’s what they make hotels for,” says Mr. Luchsinger, who concedes that he has access to a Park Service police boat but doesn’t want to impose on the staff.
There was one inconvenience that Mr. Luchsinger would not tolerate, however: commercial party boats. The music emanating from these vessels, which would anchor in front of the Statue of Liberty at all hours, “was like someone punching you in the chest—it was that loud,” he says.
About two months ago, he met with New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly to discuss the problem. The following week, it got a lot quieter after 11 p.m. and has remained so, Mr. Luchsinger says with a chuckle.
On the other hand, the couple were thrilled last summer when passengers aboard a cruise ship bobbing in front of the statue spontaneously broke into God Bless America.
And while the harbor might serve as a moat around their home, the Luchsingers, like all New Yorkers, must occasionally contend with a scary situation. One night last summer, Mr. Luchsinger chased away a pair of boaters who had docked inside the island’s security perimeter.
Missing delivery service
Still, none of this has deterred them. In fact, Mr. Luchsinger’s current off-hours project is renovating the superintendent’s historic residence, a two-bedroom brick colonial where Mr. Mills and his family lived. The Luchsingers plan to move from the bungalow into that house when it’s finished, and they hope to stay there for at least a decade.
Mr. Mills, who moved off the island because his wife became ill, says he misses it. But he has discovered that living in Manhattan also has attractions.
“We were totally blown away by delivery service,” he says. “For the first few months, we went wild with takeout.”
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A Word of Warning on InFocus Realty:
Persons who are out of town and looking for an apartment in NYC would be well advised to avoid dealing with InFocus Realty. Based on my personal experience with one of their brokers and their Executive Director I would try to deal directly with the building managerial personnel if at all possible.
The following is an account of my experience with this company as I prepared to move from Atlanta to NYC to begin a job on September 1, 2010.
InFocus Realty is a rental agency that shows units at 3333 Broadway. The broker with whom I dealt (we’ll call him CG) first showed me an apartment at that building in June, 2010. I told him I was in the market for a 12 month lease for an apartment beginning September 1. He had me fill out an application (for which I paid $50.00). The application process, itself, had a few glitches which I attributed to the usual administrative challenges of dealing with someone out of town. They included repeated requests for the same information, phone calls not returned, annoying stuff but nothing too major. I finally received an approval at the end of July and was then sent a lease for August 1. I called and reminded CG that I said Spetember 1. He claimed not to understand that and said fine we would be OK for September 1.
In August he called to tell me that the apartment I had seen was no longer available but he could get another for September 1. I said I wanted to see it before. He made three appointments with me: two on August 25 which he cancelled on very short notice and one on August 26 for which he did not show up at all. When we tried to get hold of him he did not answer his phone — for two days. I called his boss, the Exec Director. She did nothing but later told me (several days later) that he had lost his phone. That was not a sufficient excuse not to come to an appointment but she assured me that September 1would be OK and CG would get in touch.
CG told me on August 28 that I could see a few apartments on August 30, sign the lease for the one I wanted and move in on the 31. During that conversation he told me for the first time that the lease was not for 12 months but 15 but that the price per month would be at the price he had told me. I was not happy with this development but at this point I had no choice in the matter.
As I was crossing the Verrazano Bridge coming into Manhattan on August 30 I received a call from CG (found his phone miraculously) who suddenly had NO apartment available and wanted me to wait until October 15.
I leave to your speculations as to how that turn of events occurred.
Subsequently, after seeing other apartments, I tried yet again to rent at 3333 Broadway and spoke directly to the building manager. She told me onSeptember 2 that she had a September 15 rental available. She knew my name because CG had told her that I cancelled my lease application for August 1 at the building which was a baldfaced lie. She had thrown out all my information and I had to start (and pay) the application all over again.
To be clear: There was NEVER any request from me for an August 1 lease. There was no cancellation because there never was any lease. Rather, C Gand InFocus told the building management an untrue story and then tried to get me to enter into a lease that not only started a month earlier than I wanted but was also for 15 months (instead of the consistently discussed 12).
Because of all this unprofessional and unethical behavior by InFocus and its personnel I eneded up with no apartment when I thought I had one; had to pay two applications fees and underwent extra truck expense and difficulty. I was lucky to be able to store my belongings when I got to NYC while I found another apartment. Others might not be so fortunate.
However, the cost of renting another truck to move into the building with whom I eventually signed a lease in New York was unavoidable. So that was yet another unnecessary expense incurred and paid due to lack of straight, professional and fail dealing of CG and InFocus.
It is possible that there are more forthright and professional personnel at InFocus and this may just have been a blip on the radar. But, I would be careful when dealing with this crew.