Inside Third & Bond: Week 93

Today the Hudson blog team tackles the topic of electricity…
On the F train today, headed back to the office from a visit to Third + Bond, we had a summer subway moment: the car was crowded with children in matching day camp t-shirts, sweat-stained adults, and empty water bottles rolling underfoot. Then came the announcements to re-route the train and we thought: yep, the summer heat’s getting to the subway’s electrical equipment just like it’s zapping the rest of us. Not much we can do without electricity in the City we’re beholden to it. At Third + Bond the electricity connections were important enough to hire a subcontractor to make the connections now for a substantial cost rather than wait for ConEd to do it for free in six months.

Electricity to Third + Bond is fed through underground connections from a power line in Third Street. In most new buildings in New York, the connection is made underground. (We made above ground connections wires drooping down from poles to houses just last year for houses in Far Rockaway. Depends on the neighborhood.) The pictures illustrate a section of sidewalk saw-cut in preparation to remove the concrete to work on the underground connection and a section of sidewalk where the connection has been made and the hole refilled temporarily with sand.

Our electric story began in the demo phase…

…We had to get the electrical connection cut off before the City would issue a demolition permit. Getting service stopped permanently is more involved than simply closing the account. A ConEd rep has to come out and take a look at the connection and agree to the manner in which it will be severed. Safety is paramount.

Not long after we needed temporary electricity for construction. We already had a plan in place, devised during the cut off discussions. Our electrician put in the equipment and ConEd came out again to insure everything was in place before kicking back on the juice. The amount of power we get through the temporary connection is sufficient for our construction needs but it ends up being inconvenient for finishing interiors.

So we wanted to get our permanent connections. Then each of the eight buildings would be juiced up and workers could plug right into the room where they were working. Fewer cords, an opportunity to verify electrical connections, and the ability to finish light fixtures, etc.

We called ConEd to let them know we were ready for the connection. ConEd pays for the connection to the property and the building owner pays for all of the work to extend the connection throughout the property. No sooner had ConEd come out to the site for the pre-meeting when they saw the sidewalk shed. The sidewalk shed required by the Department of Buildings to protect passers-by from falling construction materials…and anyone working on the sidewalk. Why is this a problem? ConEd has a policy that prevents its workers from working beneath a scaffold.

Our choice was to wait until the scaffold came down and then ConEd would return and do the connections for free or hire an electrician who would do the connections now and pay. The scaffold will be up until we’ve completed the roof and façade, so another four to six months. And what if at that time ConEd is busy and we have to wait a month or so for connections? We’ve lost a great deal of time.

But doing the connections ourselves would be in the neighborhood of $11,000. We were hopeful that ConEd would reimburse us for doing its work if not in full then at least in part. It seems to us that ConEd would have spent x on our connections and so any amount from zero to x would be a benefit to them and would relieve our burden. ConEd sees things differently. Maybe it is just a simple policy that eliminates any back-and-forth with developers who value the connections differently? It’s hard to know.

At the end of the day we chose the next best thing to having ConEd make the connection on their dime and at our time. In no time at all, the power will be flowing and meters spinning.

Inside Third & Bond: Weeks 1-92 [Brownstoner]
The complete offering terms are in an Offering Plan available from Sponsor. File No. CD080490. Sponsor: Hudson Third LLC, 826 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.