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Residents of Parkway Village, a 675 unit apartment building in Kew Gardens Hills were facing the daunting prospect of a cold winter coming fast without a repaired heating system. That is until they reached an agreement last week with financial giant JP Morgan/Chase.

Residents at Parkway said the 60-year-old heating system was in a sorry state for many years, costing renters and co-op owners lost money and reducing the quality of their lives.

“It has been a heating problem for the last 15 years or so, on and off,” longtime resident and former coop board president Monica Weiss said last week.

Residents were facing this cold, hard possibility because JP Morgan/Chase refused to grant Parkway a refinance loan that would be used to replace the antiquated system.

Almost 10 years into a 25-year mortgage, the co-op board voted to refinance through a loan intended to pay for the vital improvements, but were denied by JP Morgan. The company’s position was they were no longer interested in co-op lending and unwilling to back off a provision in the mortgage agreement that assessed a $5 million prepayment penalty should the agreement be broken before its term expired.

The current mortgage has about $15.5 million remaining.

The rest of the mortgage, on top of the prepayment penalty and the costs of replacing the heating system, would have nearly bankrupted the middle- and working-class residents.

This angered residents. Many felt the company was playing hard ball with a group of citizens that only wanted adequate heating and services for themselves and their families.

In fact, the relationship with JP Morgan had long been strained as Weiss attested in an e-mail to reporters alerting local media to the situation.

Co-op board members sought an amicable solution and previously met with Daniel Sang, VP of investments, but to no avail.

“He met with our attorneys and Board President in May to discuss our predicament,” she wrote in the e-mail. “He explained that they’re not interested in pursuing co-op loans. Our relationship with them has been difficult for many years. They refused to reimburse us for work performed from our escrow monies forcing us to prepay contractors and beg for the funds. Their stalling tactics resulted in massive amounts of paperwork, negotiations with management and lawyers until funds were returned to our operating account.”

Residents and Alan Bemtz-Letts, co-op board president, were furious over this icy insult and rallied in support of their cause, eventually claiming victory by reaching a compromise that will reduce the penalty approximately $1 million to near $4 million, or 20 percent of the $5 million total.

Concerned by the ongoing heating dilemma they decided to take their frustration to the streets. To force the company’s hand, residents staged protests at the Morgan’s Manhattan headquarters.

Almost 25 people, including Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) attended the two-day protests.

The mostly co-op building will now make the switch from an antiquated oil heating system to a modern, energy efficient gas burning facility, saving the building money on heating bills and reducing residents frustration over a corporate battle while assuaging anxiety over the basic necessity of a well-heated home.

The heating was so uneven some apartments were so boiling residents would keep their windows open even in the dead of winter, while others were frigid all the time, said Bemtz-Letts.

Now that the reduction agreement has been reached, the co-op board can go back to debating more ordinary issues instead of planning passionate protests.

Bemtz-Letts is relieved an agreement was met.

“We’re happy,” he said. “We had real success in the rally. Even when it seems there is no possibility at all, there is a possibility.”

Weiss was more cynical about the outcome.

“I am grateful, but not completely satisfied,” she said. “I am very grateful they came down, but not as much as they should.”

Referring to the enormous penalty she said, “It’s a serious ongoing problem that a bank can charge 250 percent of a mortgage. There is something very, very wrong with the laws that allow that.”

Parkway Village was originally built in 1948 as housing for United Nations employees and their families. The building began offering co-op sales in 1984, but still has a portion of renters.