Tenants and businesses are now without gas at 199 E. 3rd St.

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

On Thursday, Con Ed inspected 199 E. Third St., the building on the NW corner at Avenue B.

The posted notice states that workers found multiple leaks and shut off the gas to the entire building. 

Unfortunately, as we've seen, these situations take a while to resolve. So, for now, residential tenants of this Steve Croman-owned building will need to use hot plates to cook and get used to cold showers.

Meanwhile, Asian Taste on the corner will be closed for the foreseeable future...

Sadly, this also means that Luigi Iasilli will experience a delay in launching his new project, Potenza Centrale, in the same building.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• The owner of Max restaurant is returning to Avenue B with a new pizzeria 

Reader report: A gas leak and bureaucracy

An EVG reader shared details about a gas leak reported on Thursday afternoon at 91 First Ave. between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. 

From Thursday:

Workers came, dug a hole, turned off the gas set up a half-assed looking barricade and left.

ConEd on the phone said this is an "emergency situation" and therefore there were no notifications, no instructions. no information for residents.
 
Also said a replacement valve was "on order" and the job was in progress.

Residents (several elderly) and businesses are currently without hot water or gas for cooking.

And a weekend update:

There was a "pressure change" detected on the main line feeding into the building from the street. A gas smell was reported by someone either on the street or a resident.

Several years ago (3-4?) there was an un-regulated repair on the water/sewer lines leading into 93 First Avenue that exposed more than 4 feet of gas line for 91 First Ave., which then had to be emergency-repaired by ConEd/the City.

They replaced an entire block of gas line up from Fourth Street to Sixth Street at that time but left the OVER-100 year-old connector valves that actually feed into these 114-year old buildings.

So...Thursday afternoon there was a leak on our valve reported (No. 91) and ConEd came, dug a hole and said, "We're just here to dig the hole and turn it off."

Apparently, once the gas is shut off, it is no longer considered an "emergency" and since the valve "needed to be ordered" AND it happened on a Thursday work will not commence until Monday at the soonest IF they get the part delivered on time.

That means everyone in this building, during a pandemic, is currently without heat and hot water for bathing or working stoves for cooking for what will be at least four-five days.

With no notice, no support and no information from any agency involved. Residents had to call up multiple city offices to find out what was even happening.

Report of a gas leak on 9th Street and Avenue A

ConEd and officers from the 9th Precinct were on the scene early this morning (7:30) on Avenue A and Ninth Street ... where there had been a report of a (noticeable) gas leak at 145 Avenue A... at the time, no one involved appeared terribly concerned ... Ninth Street was blocked off at A to vehicles, but pedestrians were allowed to pass on the sidewalk ...and the Neighborhood Barbers were open for business as usual...

Today in temporary store closures

On Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place...at the Verizon shop...



Appreciate the transparency.

I have no idea when the Verizon shop closed... or why these barrels have been out here for the past few weeks...

Gas leak closes Nino's for now

Several readers noted that the pizzeria on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place closed yesterday... the sign on the door points to a gas leak in a neighboring building as the cause.

As we understand it, Nino decided to close not to take any chances... they are hopeful that they will be able to reopen tomorrow, Saturday at the latest…

Updated



The gas leak has always temporarily closed Yoshi Sushi at 131 Avenue A…

Gas leak shutters Dallas BBQ, leaves residents without hot water and cooking gas

Bad news at 37 1/2 St. Mark's Place. Con Ed has shut off gas service to the building, including Dallas BBQ, after discovering a gas leak in the basement here at Second Avenue.





A reader shared these photos, including this note to residents from Kenco Realty Management:

Due to an unexpected gas leak in the basement of our building, Con Edison has shut off the gas supply to the entire building. This is not good news. We tried our best to persuade them otherwise, but because of the explosion across the street, they err on the side of over caution.

And the timeline:

The bottom line is we do not expect to have the hot water restored for days. We do not expect the cooking gas restored for weeks.

Updated 1:30

Gothamist has a statement from a Dallas BBQ spokesperson:

"Unfortunately, the building our restaurant is located in on St. Marks had a scheduled plumbing inspection yesterday and did not pass with Con Ed. We are working to resolve the plumbing violations and pass an inspection as soon as possible. Hopefully, we will be open in the next few days, if not a couple weeks, but it is too soon to tell."