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.

Saturday's opening shots

Day 8 of Sophie's being obscured by these oil-processing trucks on Fifth Street just east of Avenue A... part of the never-ending transformer work at the Con Ed substation along Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. 

The sidewalk also remains closed on the north side of the street (just past Sophie's at No. 507). Con Ed security hires helpfully tell pedestrians to walk in the street.

And Sophie's opens at 3 p.m. daily.

Bay Crane watch 2024 underway at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A

Con Ed and Bay Crane (and likely others — Five Boroughs Flagging Corp.?) are teaming up today to deliver a new transformer (see photo below) at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street...

(And no — EVG's Stacie Joy is NOT inside the transformer for photos!) 

Con Ed has been prepping (oh, have they ever) for months for this moment. 

Traffic will likely be stopped along the Avenue between Fourth Street and Sixth Street for part of the transformer liftoff and placement ...

Well-placed sources tell us that the majority of the Bay Craning will take place on the Fifth Street side of the substation...

You can relive last year's transformer delivery right here.

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...

Saturday's opening shots

For the second time this week, Con Ed had the graffiti power washed from its substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. 

After the early Monday scrubbing, the tags returned in less than a day...

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

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. 

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.

This afternoon in photos of full rotation excavators (TB153fr edition)

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Transformer-replacement work continues at the ConEd substation along Avenue A, Fifth Street, and Sixth Street... it's quite a production, as anyone who has stood outside Sophie's (or lives in the immediate area) can attest...

Saturday's parting shots

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The social event of the season is underway on Avenue A at the ConEd substation... where workers are putting in a new transformer here between Fifth Street and Sixth Street ...

...the Avenue is closed between Fourth and Seventh, in case you wondered why B and C were so congested... Anyway! Work continues tomorrow

ConEd sources say the new transformer will arrive on March 5.

Meanwhile, officials are warning against fake photos of the new transformers here... as seen below...

Saturday's opening shots

Big rig city today on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street ... as an assortment of cranes and things are employed at the ConEd substation here... where workers have been replacing a transformer in recent weeks...

So this had nothing to do with bus stop construction 😬 ... and Avenue A is closed to through traffic (both lanes) from Fourth Street to Seventh Street through tomorrow night, per signage.

What's happening at the ConEd substation?

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

There has been a lot of activity this past week around the ConEd substation along Avenue A and on Fifth Street and Sixth Street. 

ConEd hired people to block parking spots on both sides of the facility (many of the vehicles had car alarms that liked to go off for no apparent reason, per neighbors). 

A ConEd employee told this to EVG contributor Stacie Joy: 

"We're replacing a transformer in the station. Since it's so small in there, they set up remote units for the employees. Not all the employees but some of them. We will be here for maybe one to two months, I believe. We will try to keep things quiet! It's a big job." 

Here's a look at the Fifth Street side (and the top pic) ... with the two tanker trucks all but obscuring Sophie's...

... and the Sixth Street side...

The new lights on the Con Ed substation

Several residents who live on East Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B have told us about a group of people — anywhere from three to 12 at times – who have been sleeping on the sidewalk along the Con Ed substation this summer… according to residents, they pack up and leave early in the mornings.

One resident said that they have worn out their welcome, though declining to go into details on what this meant exactly. (The reader did say the EMTs have had to pay several visits in the morning.)

So perhaps this is why workers earlier this week installed new lighting on the substation (new lights actually went in all around the structure on A and East Sixth Street)…





There are three new lights in total (only two in the reader-submitted photo below) on the East Fifth Street side …



However, as of Thursday night, only one of the three lights seemed to work on East Fifth Street …



If the lights were put up to deter anyone from sleeping here, then they didn't work. Several people still spent the night under the new light in the middle the past few evenings.