Replacement of 55-year-old Elevator in 3-story Building

[Gregory Halpern]

I helped my parents purchase a three-story (plus partially finished basement) building that has a four-stop, passenger elevator last year. As far as we know, it was installed when the building was originally constructed, which is estimated to be in 1965-1970. Our understanding is that it has a single-bottom cylinder and we expected to need to make some expensive repairs or simply replace it, but we weren't sure just how soon. Well, it got stuck over the weekend and our elevator technician replaced several components to no avail.

I've received quotes that vary from around $100K (for what I understand entails just replacing only the cylinder) to almost double that amount (for replacing all of the equipment and the cab (car)). We're inclined to go the "replace everything" route (because if we're going to spend $100K to do "half" of the job, it seems to make more sense to spend more money now/once to do everything).

I know next to nothing about elevators; what should I know? What questions should I be asking the various elevator companies? Given that the building has only three stories, should we consider decommissioning the elevator instead of replacing it? Does this really add much value or marketability to the building or appeal to prospective tenants of second- and third-floor apartments?