Like most of our residents, the Park Tower staff learned of the outages when they happened. We were aware that ComEd was doing work in the vault on the sidewalk in front of the building along Sheridan Road, but we were not told to expect any anomalies.
At around noon, the power went out for the first time for several seconds, and when it returned, many of the building’s systems remained down. Elevators and several key mechanical systems were either not operational or not responsive. Even some key fob stations, such as the package room were non responsive. Two residents were entrapped in elevators, but fortunately our OTIS technician happened to be on site at the time and we were able to help them out relatively quickly. Our team began assessing the impacts of the outage and troubleshooting as best they were able. It appeared as if many things just were not receiving power all together.
As these events were unfolding, our team started sending out e-mail blasts and text messages alerts, to keep them in the loop. (If you did not receive texts from us, you are not subscribed…click here to learn more about this service: https://www.ptcondo.com/ptca-text-message-service/)
Our building engineer Patrik Janic went out to speak with ComEd, who did not immediately have an explanation. We learned shortly thereafter that a main transformer was being worked on and something tripped a fuse. The fuse would have to be replaced. Due to the condition, the building was not receiving the full electrical capacity needed to power everything – particularly more heavy duty mechanical systems such as the elevators.
Over the course of the next hour and a half, ComEd continued assessing what was needed and determined that the repair would not be simple. However, thanks to the vaults construction, Park Tower has access to three separate mains. So, they told our team to prepare for a 2nd short outage, during which we would be switched to one of the alternative mains. This was done around 1:30pm, after which everything started coming back on line and indeed by around 2pm it appeared all systems were back up and operating normally.
With the help of our OTIS technician, all elevators were tested and put back in service. And we confirmed the security system and other mechanicals were online and functioning.
We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding while our team responded and addressed this unexpected and chaotic situation. We sympathize with any inconvenience anyone experienced as a result of the difficulties this event caused. It impacted all of our employees as well, so it was definitely a shared experience as a community.
If you have any questions or concerns about this situation, please feel free to share them at parktowercondo-mgmt@habitat.com. Also, if you are not already a subscriber, please consider joining. Get all the information on this service here: https://www.ptcondo.com/ptca-text-message-service/
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