I’ve walked past this structure for years and still have no idea what it is. Any insight? —R.

It’s Con Edison’s Leonard Street Substation. Upon realizing that you might want to know what a substation is—and because I wasn’t 100% sure myself—I dug up this Wikipedia page. Like so many Wikipedia pages, however, its usefulness is dubious: “A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Electric power may flow through several substations between generating plant and consumer, and its voltage may change in several steps.”

So I called media relations at Con Edison, and I spoke with a very helpful representative. “The substation steps down the electric voltage for distribution in the local area,” he said. “The Leonard Street substation serves the area between Broadway [to the east], West [to the west], and Spring [to the north]; the south is a crooked boundary along Duane, Thomas, and Worth. It serves about 8,500 Con Edison customers (and many more people than that). It provides a peak load of around 109 megawatts—that usually peaks about 4 p.m.” He also sent the diagram above (click to enlarge), “keeping in mind that all the electricity in Manhattan is underground.”

He confirmed that you (or more likely I) shouldn’t ever walk in when the doors are open, as much as we might want to; security is tight. You might, however, find this photo interesting. I took it while visiting an apartment at 6 Varick.

And here’s the Google Maps satellite view….

Got a question? Email it to tribecacitizen@gmail.com.

Previous Nosy Neighbor posts:
• What happens to old cobblestones?
• Are buses allowed to idle on Laight?
• What’s happening with the Verizon building?
• Will the construction at Hudson and Laight ever end?
• What is Esoteric on Walker Street?
• What’s up with the building under renovation on Franklin?
• Is N. Moore getting cobblestoned?
• What are those orange awnings for?
• What’s happening at 73 Warren?
• Can you recommend any Tribeca picture books?
• Why are those shuttles on Greenwich?
• What’s coming to 15 Canal Street?
• Who enforces sidewalk-café regulations?
• What’s going on at 27 Desbrosses?
• What happened to the Lilac?
• When will those trailers on West Street go away?
• Do you know anything about 20-24 Varick?
• What’s happening to my parking lot?
• Is Pier 26 being worked on again?
• What’s up with Jin Market?
• What are those black pellets on Pier 25?
• What do the characters on 47 Vestry mean?
• When is T.J. Maxx opening?
• Where is the Special Forces monument going?
• Who’s moving into 151 Hudson?
• What’s going on at 172 Duane?
• Where is Compose’s pastry chef cooking now?
• What’s up with those Verizon carts?
• Where was the original Blues Bar?
• Who are the guys in the geeky pants?
• Why are the windows above Ponte’s boarded up?
• Can we walk on the West Street medians?
• What’s going on in 157 Hudson?
• What’s the new painting at 153 Hudson?
• What’s up with 55 Warren/55 Murray?
• What is this P.C. Richard & Son Theater I keep hearing about?
• What’s the story behind the lights at 289 Church?
• What’s the Dream House at 275 Church?
• How come every every film and TV shoot seems to have a trailer with doors marked “Lucy” and “Desi”?