Team Cranbrook is pleased to share the successful completion of a significant electrical upgrade project at the Lodi Wine and Business Center. While this upgrade project was a sizable financial investment, it represents our commitment to modernize the facility’s infrastructure, aiming to enhance safety, reliability, and efficiency of the property. Executing this project at an older facility was no small feat and required careful planning to ensure there was minimal disruption to our valued tenants.

The upgrade involved a comprehensive replacement of the site’s main distribution panels, which are responsible for transferring power into the many smaller electrical sub-panels that are located throughout the entire facility. Distribution panels are critical to the stable electrical supply of the facility, as a potential failure at a distribution panel affects all the smaller sub-panels supplied from it. The distribution panels are truly the trunk holding up all the branches! Due to their importance in maintaining operations for our tenants, we replaced a total of five distribution panels that are estimated to be over 70 years old. You may wonder, “If it’s not broken, why fix it?” The answer – it is exceedingly difficult to repair or replace components within the panels that are no longer being produced. Additionally, electrical panels of this size have experienced exceptionally long lead times to procure, sometimes over one year.

By updating outdated components and proactively transitioning to modern equipment, we enhance our capability to provide uninterrupted power supply to our tenants. Recognizing the importance of limiting inconvenience to our tenants during this process, we implemented a carefully crafted plan that included the use of temporary generators to ensure tenant operations were not impacted. This approach allowed us to maintain a continuous power supply to the facility, while seamlessly transitioning to the updated panels. We also took the opportunity to torque and tighten various existing equipment and replace some aging wiring. The entire project took approximately 3 days and involved the work of many electricians to ensure the facility was back in full operation before tenants were adversely affected.

We are happy to report that all work was completed on time and under budget thanks to our talented business partners and support staff.