Tuesday's parting shot

Today, outside the Con Ed substation on Fifth Street and Avenue A, there were unconfirmed reports of angels singing. 

For today, after nearly seven months, the last of the street barricades and assorted equipment (the cherry picker moved on yesterday) were removed... and the work on the new transformer has come to a welcome conclusion. (The Sixth Street side was cleared last week.)

Goodbye to the curt security guards who sat in idling vehicles watching parking spaces 24/7, the oil-processing trucks and the random holiday morning buzzsawing. 

And we do not know if the CitiBike docking station will return to the south side of Fifth Street outside the Untitled building.

La La Laundry looking for some help after 3 weeks without gas

Multiple EVG readers have reported that La La Laundry — and the whole building on the NW corner of 11th Street and Avenue B — has been without gas for their dryers since March 26. 

Management explained what happened: 

[O]n March 26th, a routine maintenance task took a harrowing turn. An elderly mechanic, entrusted with welding duties in our boiler room, suddenly felt unwell, prompting a call to 911. Responders, fearing a gas leak, urged the shutdown of the boiler's gas supply. 

However, a fateful misstep by a Con Ed worker resulted in the cessation of gas to the entire building, despite NO leak being found within our premises. 

What ensued was a three-week ordeal, a labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape and financial strain. We, the stalwart team of La La Laundry, found ourselves thrust into a whirlwind of regulations and demands with NO support from our building management. Every resource was poured into compliance efforts, draining our coffers and leaving other bills in limbo. 

They hope a Department of Buildings inspection today will result in a Revised Gas Certificate (aka, Blue Card) for service restoration. 

Back to management: 

But even as we prepare to reopen, a new challenge looms large: the daunting specter of financial recovery.  

We had envisioned La La Laundromat not merely as a business but as a sanctuary — a place of solace and community spirit. Yet, the road ahead is fraught with uncertainty. It is with humility and gratitude that we turn to you, our cherished patrons, for support in our time of need.

La La Laundry, a business that includes a plant store and a cleaning service, launched a GoFundMe on Sunday. You can find the link here.

Saturday's opening shot

From a rainy 10th Street and Avenue A, photogenic steam courtesy of Con Ed...

Photos from new transformer day at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Yesterday saw the arrival of a new transformer at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A at Fifth Street... the second new one for the facility in the past year. 

The crews from Con Ed and Bay Crane worked quickly (and efficiently, TBH) to install the 180,000-pound transformer ahead of Winter Storm Ember, which ultimately brought snow flurries and season-appropriate Instagram posts.

The operation included the placement of the new transformer's radiator and cooling tank...

... and here's everything in place and waiting for the hookup...

And based on the street signage on Fifth Street and Avenue B, we look to be in for some more crane work next weekend... (and do they mean Jan. 12 and 13?)...

Hey Bay: Con Ed preps for more transformer work at the Avenue A substation

Reporting by Stacie Joy

In recent weeks, workers have been doing some prep work at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street... work that includes 24/7 security on the scene, moving cones and barriers here and there. 

As of yesterday, the first of the Bay Cranes arrived ... now the work is getting serious. (Emphasis ours.) 

As per workers on the scene, this is a two-week process. First, they will remove and disassemble the old transformer on the Fifth Street side — starting today. This will take a while. (Editorializing.) Then, slated for the weekend after Thanksgiving, the new transformer will go in and provide an Instagram-worthy photo extravaganza. (Try to get a window seat at Sophie's or Somtum Der!)

This is the second transformer replacement at the substation this year... the previous job was a five-month-long project.

Updated 7:37 a.m.

We have liftoff...

Tenants and businesses are now without gas at 199 E. 3rd St.

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

On Thursday, Con Ed inspected 199 E. Third St., the building on the NW corner at Avenue B.

The posted notice states that workers found multiple leaks and shut off the gas to the entire building. 

Unfortunately, as we've seen, these situations take a while to resolve. So, for now, residential tenants of this Steve Croman-owned building will need to use hot plates to cook and get used to cold showers.

Meanwhile, Asian Taste on the corner will be closed for the foreseeable future...

Sadly, this also means that Luigi Iasilli will experience a delay in launching his new project, Potenza Centrale, in the same building.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• The owner of Max restaurant is returning to Avenue B with a new pizzeria 

When the lights flickered last night

We heard from about three dozen residents (mostly via Instagram messages) about flickering lights last night around 8:50, which prompted concerns of a brownout/blackout.

Some of the residents also reported hearing a pop, or as the Citizen app described it, an explosion...

Several readers reported that a manhole cover had been blown off from the sidewalk on the NW corner of Avenue A and Sixth Street. The FDNY promptly responded, and there weren't any reports of injuries. 

The lights also flickered for a second, and cable boxes rebooted. 

Most of the people we heard from live in proximity to Avenue A... with the furthest report coming from 14th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

This morning, a Con Ed crew was working in a manhole on the east side of Avenue A at Sixth Street... just outside the ConEd substation. 

We reached out to Con Ed for more about what happened last night... likely related to the summer heat and excess power usage.

Power aid: Transformer work wraps up at the Con Ed substation

After 5-plus months of activity, work is wrapping up at the Con Ed substation along Avenue A and on Fifth Street and Sixth Street. 

On Friday, workers packed up the sidewalk office units and (most of the) porta-potties... the 24/7 security personnel hired to watch the adjacent parking spaces were also gone. 

The security booth remains on Fifth Street, awkwardly near where Sophie's patrons take cigarette breaks...

Con Ed has been replacing a transformer here, blocking Avenue A for several weekends for some intricate crane theatrics. 

Meanwhile, there's word this process will happen again with another transformer delivery this fall. (How many transformers does one substation house?)

 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Con Ed ready to transform your weekend along Avenue A! 

• Revisiting a transformative Sunday on Avenue A

Collapsed portion of sidewalk whole again on 7th Street

After nearly two months, Con Ed workers finally repaired a collapsed portion of the sidewalk outside 84 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

The work took two days and forced the closure of the businesses here — Studio Duarte, a jewelry brand, and AuH20 Thriftique, a vintage shop — on the summery spring days of last Wednesday and Thursday. (Photo below by Steven)... 

Despite a hole in the sidewalk and numerous Con Ed barricades, the folks at AuH20 Thriftique made the best of it these past two months with their business hours and strategically placed rack of clothes... (abandoned couch not part of set up)...

Fingers crossed there isn't another setback to return the block to the ConEd/DEP Hell Summer of 2021.

Revisiting a transformative Sunday on Avenue A

Photos by Stacie Joy

Last weekend, Con Ed and its contractors — Bay Crane, Five Boroughs Flagging Corp. — closed off parts of Avenue A to install a new transformer at the substation between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

It was an elaborate operation to hoist the 188,000-pound (!!!) transformer and its components, such as a radiator, from flatbeds on Avenue A and across the substation to its position in the back. EVG contributor Stacie Joy donned a hard hat to document the special delivery...

Here's a look at the newly in-place transformer in the alleyway/driveway behind the substation between Fifth Street and Sixth Street (which people always stare into while on a smoke break outside Sophie's) ...

No word yet when Con Ed will wrap up this work. Crews are still working behind the scene. In one development, one of the three porta potties was removed from the Fifth Street side (maybe drop it off at Tompkins?).

Meanwhile, there's word this process will happen all over again with another transformer delivery this fall. 

What's happening on this block of 5th Street?

There are barricades and cones via Con Edison on this block of Fifth Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square, which have been in place since May 2022.

According to sources on the block, Madison Realty Capital, via property manager Silverstone Property Group shut off the gas to the building at 231 and 235 E. Fifth St. and installed electric stoves. We're told this was done with tenant permission and in accordance with the law. 

However, new electric lines for the 220V stoves were needed. Madison Realty Capital had them installed temporarily, routing the wires on the sidewalk to the basement from a manhole near each building. Now work remains at a standstill nearly 10 months later, which has made some residents unhappy (photo below via the East Fifth Street Block Association).

One resident told us that the combination of three outdoor dining structures, poor garbage maintenance and open manholes have made parts of this block a mecca for rats. "It's nasty," the resident said.

Elsewhere, we've heard grumbles about the ongoing Con Ed presence on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue... which starts roughly outside the back entrance to the Brant Foundation...

... and ends with a garbage dump of a dormant Con Ed work site.

Transformer, day 2!

Photo by Stacie Joy 

We're on Day 2 with the installation of a new transformer (and assorted pieces) at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. 

Anyway, Avenue A will remain closed between Fourth Street and Seventh Street for lord knows how long today. 

This impacts the M14 bus service. Per the MTA;

M14A-SBS stops on Ave A at E 5th St and Houston St will be closed in both directions

Mar 11 - 12, Sat & Sun

For service, use the stops on Ave A at E 11th St or Essex St at Delancey St.

Eastbound buses will also make requested stops on Ave C, and westbound buses will make requested stops on 1st Ave.

Con Ed ready to transform your weekend along Avenue A!

We're back on Bay watch along Avenue A. 

The Bay Crane team is out in force this morning for what we understand will be the installation of a new transformer at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. 

Posted signage last weekend tipped us off to this event ... though with some cliffhanging — maybe it will happen March 4-5... or maybe March 11-12! ("We don't really know!" didn't fit on the sign.)

The sign leaves out some vital info... like Avenue A is closed through traffic from Fourth Street to Seventh Street. (Perhaps that was optional to include, given the 47 flatbed trucks and various cranes parked along A.)

The transformer work here, often 17 workers directing a beeping forklift, started as we welcomed 2023 ... 

Could this be the guest of honor?

Anyway! Pull up a chair and umbrella and enjoy.