Featuring Gehry’s signature undulating exterior made of stainless steel, the building’s 76 stories high, enclosing 900 spectacular residential rental units. Amenities include a 50-foot swimming pool, wraparound sundecks, fitness center and spa. SDi has installed a state-of-the-art laundry room on the 6^th floor; conveniently located one floor below the health club. The commercial-size washer and dryers are big enough for residents to wash quilts, blankets and large loads, and will dry them much faster than the small washers and dryers located inside the apartment units.

Designed by Frank Gehry, 8 Spruce Street in Lower Manhattan is the tallest residential building in the hemisphere. It features fabulous amenities, including a central laundry room designed, installed and maintained by SDi Laundry Solutions.

“Central laundry rooms, also known as ‘back-up’ laundry rooms, are so much faster and do such a better job than the small machines installed in each unit, that we are hoping that residents will come down and take advantage of them,” says Ron Garfunkel, President/CEO of SDi. “We are proud to have been chosen to provide this amenity at one of New York’s premiere residences.”

For example, in a laundry room with two traditional washers that are each run four times per day, the cost of water, gas and electric averages $112 per month*. With the new high-efficiency models, that cost would be reduced to $38 per month—a savings of $74, or a 66% reduction in utility costs. In a bigger laundry room, the dollar savings are much greater.

In addition, these machines are more environmentally friendly, conserving water and electricity, while requiring much less soap and thus reducing pollutants.

Our trained service staff is happy to visit your property to do an on-site inspection and analysis, and show you how these new machines can improve your bottom line while providing a better, less expensive laundry experience for all the residents in the building. In many cases, we can install these new machines at no up-front cost to you, just one pre-set monthly fee that comes out of the laundry room revenue.

Contact SDi today for a free consultation. Call (800) 945-WASH or email our Vice President of Sales, Dan Donohue, at ddonohue@servicedirections.com.

*Based on the following utility cost estimates: water $7.62/ccf; gas $1.40/therm; electric $.19/kwh. These charges do not include basic monthly service and delivery charges or sales tax.

Lou Romano is pleased with the laundry room SDI installed for him at his 4-unit building in NJ.

What is Cyberserve? Cyberserve is the simplest way to operate a laundry room. Cyberserve makes operating a laundry room easy for residents, building owners, and property managers.

• Residents pre-pay online using their credit or debit card

• No need for coins or cash

• Residents can pre-pay along with rent or common charges

• Owners and managers never worry about collecting cash or coins

• Eliminates security issues of theft or tampering

Cyberserve works in ANY size building, from three units to three hundred units! SDI will come to your building and set up a laundry room at little or no cost to the property owner. Residents will be thrilled to have this on-site amenity, and owners can relax, because SDI will maintain and service the machines. No collections are needed, because residents use Smart Cards to run the machines, which are loaded by paying online with a credit or debit card. OR, property owners can offer pre-paid $10 or $20 Smart Cards to residents that they can buy any time from the landlord, or pay for along with their rent. Property owners pay a reasonable monthly fee to SDI for installing and maintaining the machines, and keep the rest of the laundry room income. It’s a WIN-WIN solution!

“The SDI machines are the best,” says Lou Romano, owner of a four-unit residence in River Edge, New Jersey. “I love the fact that I’m not counting quarters. I feel like I’m part of the new world of technology, especially when the checks come in.  My tenants are thrilled as well.”

“Your staff performed a difficult installation with zero problems and we were able to open the laundry room as promised to the tenants of this building,” says co-op board member Robert Blum. “Your team did a great job in welcoming tenants and teaching them how to use the equipment.”

Colleen Fay, one of our customers in White Plains, tells a story of how SDI staff helped her solve a problem in her laundry room: “I encountered a problem with one of the washers in my building which stopped in the middle of the cycle and would not restart. I called the “800″ number on a Saturday night about 9PM. The customer service people were very friendly, they suggested some things to try and then contacted a service rep who called me back within 15 minutes.  He told me how to get the machine open and then called me back to be sure I was able to get my clothes out of the washer. The following morning (Sunday) someone called me to be sure the problem was resolved and assured me I would be refunded for the additional use of the machine. So often these days customer service leaves a lot to be desired, but these folks did their job well. I wanted to thank you and them for their help.”

“SDI suggested we install Smart Card machines into our larger buildings, which we did. We increased the prices, increased revenue and SDI helped make the process totally smooth,” says Karen Fry of Columbia University.

With the cost of municipal water rising every year, conservation has become an important budgetary as well as environmental consideration. If your building has a central laundry room, you can save hundreds of gallons of water by using it, even if you have a washer and dryer in your own unit. A central laundry room also uses much less energy than home units. Here are some important facts:

• Your building uses 300 percent less water each year by having a central laundry room

• You could be saving as much as 8,000 gallons of water per unit per year with a central laundry room

• Central laundry rooms use 500 percent less energy than in-unit laundry machines

• Commercial washers and dryers hold more and work faster than in-home units

If you have any problems with your central laundry room, speak to your building staff. Most day-to-day problems can be solved by simple routine maintenance like cleaning, emptying filters, etc. Be sure to report any machine malfunctions to SDI right away, by phone at 800-945-WASH (9274), email at service@servicedirections.com, on our Facebook page (SDi Laundry Solutions) or through our website service request form at http://sdilaundrysolutions.com/form_service.html.

High-Efficiency Washers Save Water, Fuel, and Detergent!

• Front-load washing machines were developed to reduce the environmental impact of doing your laundry.

• They use 60% less water that traditional washing machines because the clothes tumble through a layer of water as the drum rotates, rather than sitting in a tub.

• Front loaders use 75% less soap than top loaders.

• They save electricity because your clothes dry faster. Why? Because they spin twice as fast as top loaders, removing more water from the clean clothes.

• They hold 50% more than top loaders, so you can do more laundry in less time, fewer loads overall, and you can even wash comforters in them.

• They are smaller and take up less space and can be stacked.

• Only High-efficiency laundry detergent should be used, and only a tiny bit per load (a quarter cup or less). This soap hardly produces any suds, but does a great job cleaning.

• Too much soap can damage the machine and your clothes.

• High-efficiency detergent works in cold water, so you save even more money on fuel!

Ron Garfunkel, President/CEO of SDi Laundry Solutions Receives the Partners in Caring Award from Al Mayas of Greenthal Property Managment at the Bridge's annual Gala, 2011.

Cynthia C. Wainwright, President of the Board of Directors of The Bridge has just announced the distinguished honorees for the upcoming 57th Anniversary Partners in Caring Awards Dinner. The three honorees have made significant contributions that have positively impacted the lives of many Bridge clients and the community.

The Caring Awards Dinner will honor Ron Garfunkel, President and CEO of Service Directions, Inc. a leading laundry equipment company, as the 2011 Corporate Partner, for being a valued provider of equipment and services in Bridge residences and a supporter of The Bridge for more than a decade. George Ball, Chairman and CEO of W. Atlee Burpee & Co. and the Burpee Foundation, will receive the 2011 Individual Partner Award for being the founding supporter of The Bridge Horticultural Training Program and Urban Farms. NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, will also be honored as the 2011 Government Partner, for her work as a long time activist in providing innovative solutions for combating geriatric homelessness and improving services for disabled New Yorkers.

Ms. Wainwright said, “We are delighted that Ron Garfunkel & Service Directions, George Ball and Speaker Quinn will accept our 2011 Partners in Caring Awards, as partners in our work with the homeless, adults with serious mental illness, substance abuse disorders and HIV/AIDS. We honor them for their commitment to The Bridge and our community.”

The fundraising Dinner will be held on June 9, 2011 at The Boathouse in Central Park, with cocktails at 6:30 pm and dinner at 7:30 pm. The Gala’s theme is “A Night in Venice” with gondola rides for our guests on the lake outside the Boathouse. Dinner proceeds will support the agency’s broad range of services, including homeless housing initiatives for recent veterans, as well as the horticultural training program and urban farms. For information about Journal Ads and Tickets, contact Ann Hyatt, Director of Development, at ahyatt@thebridgeny.org or call 212-663-3000, ext. 379.