@Kevin S.I am not sure if what you are describing addresses the OP's question. 

I’m seeking advice from any investors who have dealt with the pain of owning a co-op in NYC.

OP the option period is just your due diligence period. in Texas its common to put up 100.00 non refundable for a 2 week option.. if you dont like it you back out and lose your 100.00

Weekly rent averages about $ 175 per week and I provide internet, utilities and a coin-op laundry. 

We don’t know all the circumstances, BUT, from the small amount of information in the OP, it does seem like the OP believes that to earn a commission the broker/agent needs to represent the buyer all the way through closing and that if the buyer terminates agreement before closing the agent no longer needs to be paid.  

For most multifamily, I'm seeing on 30 year amortization to boot.Reminder for the lurkers that this has nothing to do with single family homes, 1-4 unit residential all gets residential mortgage financing, which isn't presently as good as commercial.Odd world where the 8-unit property has a payment that is less than twice as much as the fourplex, even though it pulls in twice the rents, and has less than twice the maintenance expense (the price of the fourplex is likely to be more than half the price of the 8-unit, and more than 1/5th the price of OP's 20-unit, holding constant location etc, but that's another rant for another day).

My guess is you (the OP) really don't mean 50 units, but are after more of a cashflow goal, etc.

We did use a high-grade vinyl plank flooring over the concrete floor down there, just in case, but years later we can say there have been no more water issues.We also plumbed in and installed a laundry room, purchasing twin pairs of coin-op Speed Queens.All of those renovations allowed us to go up-market a bit, from the prior $160/week to $180/week within the first few weeks on the incremental rehabbed units.

I called my field ops person one day to ask why a tenant wasn't given a key for move in day and was told he had no idea because he was let go during the restructure.

We purchased a property, signed contract for a 45-day SoW (cosmetic rehab, add AC) and after about 30 days it's been radio silence.We have been pretty patient and now at 60-days past closing we've engaged another local PM who is going to be re-keying, assessing rehab status and taking over from here.I think similar to OP there's nothing particularly nefarious or shady going on here, but the follow-through and ability to land a deal is significantly lacking with this team.