NEW ROCHELLE, NY (April 7, 2023) — Over the past week, tenants at a New Rochelle high-rise have been warned that electrical power to their building will be shut off for 9 hours on Monday because Con Edison is shutting off a substation in downtown New Rochelle.
Wilder, Balter Partners, owner of The Stella at 10 LeCount Place, has been sending emails and letters all week warning tenants that because Con Edison is shutting down a substation the building will be without power from 8 am to 5 pm on Monday April 10.
Con Edison issued a statement yesterday addressing the claim.
“The planned outage was requested by the building contractor to accommodate internal work,” said Con Edison spokesperson Allan Drury. “We are not shutting down a substation.”
In other words, Wilder, Balter Partners has been and continues lying to tenants both about why there will be no electrical power and, by blaming Con Ed, not explaining the true purpose behind their decision to cut power to hundreds of tenants.
Since Tuesday, Stella tenants have been sent 9 warning notices stating that a “substation shutdown by Con-Ed will take place on Monday, April 10th, 2023, that will impact the electric power at the Stella.”
The Stella
WB Residential Communities, LLC
IMPORTANT NOTICE
A substation shutdown by Con-Ed will take place on Monday, April 10th, 2023, that will impact the electric power at the Stella. The shutdown will begin at 8am to 5pm. During this time, you will have no power for lights, HVAC and electric appliances. Water flow to your showers, toilets and sinks will not be affected.
The electrical substation providing power to The Stella is the Cedar Street Substation located near Exit 16 of the New York State Thruway.
Shutting down the Cedar Street Substation from 8 am to 5 pm on a workday — a planned blackout — would effect a large swath of the area around the substation, impacting thousands of Con Edison ratepayers in New Rochelle including schools, medical facilities, office buildings, residential housing, hotels, government facilities like fire stations, restaurants and more. With security and fire alarms disabled, the power shutdown could set off chaos in downtown New Rochelle.
Given the severe impact of a substation shutdown and the seeming ambivalence of various officials, we contacted Con Edison:
From: Robert Cox
Sent: Friday, April 7, 2023 9:07 AM
To: drurya@coned.com
Cc: Jack Mannarino (WBP), Lori Roseman (WBP), Al Tarantino (District 2, BID Board), Yadira Ramos-Herbert (District 3), Ivar Hyden (District 4), Marc Jerome (Monroe College, BID Board) Kathleen Gill (City Manager)
Subject: Fwd: IMPORTANT NOTICE – Con-Ed Shutdown
Allan
Hi. Hope all is well.
I have copied ownership of the Stella, members of the Downtown BID Board and the Council Member for the Council District 3 and the City Manager.
I live in this building. It seems unusual to shut off electricity to an area of downtown New Rochelle like this. It is sort of like a planned black out.
I have copied the building engineer on this email as he seemed to be the point person for the Stella. I believe it would be wise for him to notify tenants about precautions they should take which I typically hear from Con Ed (tenants are billed through QuadLogic so do not deal with Con Ed): do not open refrigerators and freezers, unplug devices especially TV, computers to avoid surge issues when power comes back on, etc. If you provide a list I will publish it and make sure ownership gets a copy.
Questions:
- What is being done and why?
- Where exactly?
- What streets/buildings are impacted?
- Will the outage show up on the outage map so people can monitor it for estimates of restoration of power?
- Can people call Con Ed with concerns or questions?
- Who maintains the list of people who for medical reasons need electricity, who communicates with them: Con Ed or Quadlogic? Is that being addressed?
- Also, The time range is 9 hours. My recollection is that after a certain number of hours rate payers can seek reimbursement up to $350 for items lost in refrigerators and freezers. Does 9 hours qualify? What is the shutdown goes longer? Can you provide a PDF or link to the reimbursement form?
If there is anything you think I should know please tell me.
I think the biggest thing to know is which addresses will lose power.
Thanks
Robert Cox
Publisher and Managing Editor
Talk of the Sound
Con Edison replied a few hours later but only to us, they did not reply all so no one copied on the email has seen their response until now.
From: Drury, Allan
Date: On Fri, Apr 7, 2023 at 12:53 PM
Subject: Fwd: RE: RE: IMPORTANT NOTICE – Con-Ed Shutdown
To: Robert Cox
Cc:
Bob,
The planned outage was requested by the building contractor because to accommodate internal work. We are not shutting down a substation.
I think the tips you listed are good. You might also suggest that people have their cell phones and other devices fully charged before the outage begins.
Allan Drury
Con Edison
If Con Edison is not shutting down a substation and power to The Stella is being cut at the request of Wilder, Balter Partners then why will tenants be without power on April 10?
We asked Wilder, Balter Partners, “what work is being down on Monday, why and is it related in any way to the fire in the basement?”
We have yet to receive a reply but the fire incident in December may offer explanation.
On December 3, 2022, a transformer explosion in the basement started a fire which sent acrid, heavy electrical smoke mixed with carbon monoxide and chemicals throughout the building. The need to install a permanent fix to the damage caused by the transformer explosion and resulting fire may be the true purpose of the planned power outage at The Stella.