BP station on 2nd Avenue closes this month

Late last month we heard a rumor that the BP station and MRM Auto Repair at 24 Second Ave. at East First Street would close in the coming weeks.

This has been confirmed. On Saturday, workers were hauling away equipment for MRM …



… which is relocating to West 38th Street …





A BP employee told us that the gas station and snack shop will close by the end of the month.

As we've pointed out, the East Village will no longer have any gas stations within a year or so. In March, Hakimian Property filed plans to erect a 9-story mixed-use building on the site of the Mobil station on East Houston and Avenue C. (The station was expected to be open until next year.) And nearby, the BP station on East Houston and Lafayette will be home to a new luxury development one day.

As for what's next for the BP property on Second Avenue, the word is a boutique hotel. There aren't any building plans on file with the city at this time.

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

The East Village will soon be down to 1 gas station

The Mobil on Avenue C is still going strong — for now

You have a little longer to get gas on Avenue C

Plans filed for new 9-story building at site of Mobil station on East Houston and Avenue C

RUMOR: Gas station going, boutique hotel coming on Second Avenue? (31 comments)

Plans filed for new 9-story building at site of Mobil station on East Houston and Avenue C

[EVG file photo]

Hakimian Property has filed plans to erect a 9-story mixed-use building on the site of the Mobil station on East Houston and Avenue C.

Plans call for 45 residential units and 4,550 square feet of commercial space, New York Yimby reported on Friday.


[Click image to enlarge; via Michael Sean Edwards]

This space has been destined for development for several years. But we thought there was still time left for Mobil. In an article last October in the Times titled Manhattan's Vanishing Gas Stations, the paper noted that construction would begin when Mobil's lease expires in two years. So roughly toward the end of 2015. Or so.

Per New York Yimby:

The site is currently occupied by a Mobil gas station, and its redevelopment will be beneficial to the surrounding neighborhood, reducing automobile traffic while eliminating a mostly-vacant lot.

Not sure we agree with that assessment. A new building won't reduce the amount of traffic on East Houston heading to and from the FDR… and people driving in the city need somewhere to buy gas. The BP station on East Houston and Lafayette will be home to this one day.

Gas stations also provide valuable billboard space for advertisers to show off some butt, like here on East Houston and Lafayette…


[EVG file photo]

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

The East Village will soon be down to 1 gas station

The Mobil on Avenue C is still going strong — for now

You have a little longer to get gas on Avenue C

You have a little longer to get gas on Avenue C

[EVG file photos]

Last fall, The Real Deal reported that the Mobil station on Avenue C and East Houston been sold to a brokerage firm for $8 million.

Existing zoning allows for 43,000 square feet of residential development on the parcel, which has 120 feet of frontage on Houston Street, according to The Real Deal.

We all figured the station would be a goner soon enough.

Apparently not that soon.

The Times had a piece yesterday titled Manhattan's Vanishing Gas Stations. The piece offered a few more details on what's next here.... and when.

[A] rental building will rise on the site when the station’s lease expires in two years, according to HPNY, a development firm that is a partner in the project.

The 12-story rental building will encompass 43,000 square feet of apartments, as well as 6,000 square feet of ground-floor stores, which will wrap three sides, HPNY said.

So two more years here.

And it is not your imagination that gas stations are disappearing around the city.

In October, there were 117 stations in Manhattan, down from 207 in 2004, or a 44 percent decrease, according to the city’s Bureau of Fire Prevention. The city as a whole has 35 percent fewer stations than it did a decade ago, according to the data.

And I'll repeat this from a previous post:

Now I'm not lamenting the loss of gas stations... I don't have a car... and, even with an occasional rental, have never used either East Village gas station... I'll echo the sentiments of Jeremiah Moss on the matter: "And while I'm not a fan of oil, I like gas stations for their smudgy, blue-collar existence, and their vanishing from the face of Manhattan is worth noting."

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

The East Village will soon be down to 1 gas station

The Mobil on Avenue C is still going strong — for now

The Mobil on Avenue C is still going strong — for now

[EVG file photos]

Back in September, The Real Deal reported the Mobil station at Houston and Avenue C had been sold to a brokerage firm for $8 million.

Existing zoning allows for 43,000 square feet of residential development on the parcel, which has 120 feet of frontage on Houston Street, according to The Real Deal.

Some people figured that the station would be a goner by year's end. Not so. An EVG Facebook friend stopped by yesterday and noted that they were as busy as ever. (And you saw the crowds post-Sandy.) Darryl Terrell, the station's longtime manager, didn't have any updates on how much longer they'd be here on the corner.

So far, plans haven't been filed with the DOB for any new building.

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

And now, the line for gas

Even before the power returned late this afternoon, cars convened at the Mobil station on Avenue C at East Houston.

EVG reader Krikor Daglian took the following photos.

Per Krikor:

Cars started lining up at the newly-powered Mobil on Avenue C and 2nd, despite the fact that the owners weren't there and the place was closed. Police came by and told everyone to leave. Just walked by again and it looks like the owners have arrived but the police are still blocking it off. Not sure what will happen next. People are pretty antsy to get gas. The traffic is horrendous.

Meanwhile, this gas station is set to close next month and become a new development of some sort.

The East Village will soon be down to 1 gas station

Back on April 10, we wondered how much longer the East Village would have any gas stations. There are currently two — the BP at Second Avenue and East First Street... and the Mobil at Houston and Avenue C.

[EVG file photos]

Well. you can kiss that Mobil goodbye.

The Real Deal reports that the station has been sold to a brokerage firm for $8 million.

To the article:

The site, at 350 East Houston Street on the corner of Avenue C, is a 6,000-square-foot lot that is home to an Exxon Mobil station whose lease is coming due in the near future, a source close to the deal, which closed Friday, said. Existing zoning allows for 43,000 square feet of residential development on the parcel, which has 120 feet of frontage on Houston Street.

The article also notes that the Seiden family has owned the site for about 50 years.

Not a surprising bit of news, really. As we mentioned before, with the unused air rights, gas stations are just too valuable to be gas stations on such prime real estate in Manhattan, where Crain's noted there are just 40 or so left.

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

h/t Curbed

Gas station switcheroo shocker on Second Avenue: Gulf now a BP; bagels still served

Last night, we went for our usual morning bagel at the Gulf station on Second Avenue and East First Street and...

Whoa! BP!

Inside, while trying to overcharge me $1 for a fucking bottle of water, the attendant told me that the station made the switch on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, bagels are still on the menu...

But can we ever eat a BP bagel?

[The good old days of Gulf bagels]

How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

On Sunday, the Post had two articles about landmarking under the Bloomberg administration. One article points out that the BP station on Houston and Lafayette is in a landmarked area. And that's a problem for station owner Marcello Porcetti, "who hoped to turn his 11,000-square-foot lot into a seven-story condo development."

[Google]

As the Post notes, Porcetti is angry because he can't sell it for big bucks to a developer. Now he'll have to jump through a lot of hoops to get anything done here.

This made me wonder how much longer the East Village will have any gas stations, now numbering two... at Houston and Avenue C...

...and Second Avenue and East First Street...

According to an article last fall at Crain's:

Gas stations are nearly facing extinction in Manhattan after years of sell-offs and closures. Just last month, the Lukoil station on West 13th Street and Eighth Avenue shut its mini-market doors and plugged its pumps. That leaves a mere 41 stations on the island, versus 58 two years ago, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs. The city's five boroughs host 835 locations in all — meaning Manhattan's share is less than 5%.

Now I'm not lamenting the loss of gas stations... I don't have a car... and, even with an occasional rental, have never used either East Village gas station... I'll echo the sentiments of Jeremiah Moss on the matter: "And while I'm not a fan of oil, I like gas stations for their smudgy, blue-collar existence, and their vanishing from the face of Manhattan is worth noting."

Anyway, there's always the what replacing the gas stations that prompts some unease — usually something glassy and expensive ... like here on Avenue B and Houston, where Gaseteria closed in 2005 (look at the price of gas!) ...

Then!

[Via]

Now!

With the unused air rights, gas stations are just too valuable to be gas stations on such prime real estate.

As Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing at Prudential Douglas Elliman, told Crain's: "Gas stations ... just make so much sense. You don't have to empty tenants out of a building. You don't have to buy people out. You just have to acquire the land."

Even air pumps are getting fancier, more expensive in the East Village

At the Gulf Station on Second Avenue at First Street...

Before! A beat-up machine that only took quarters...

Now!

The fancy digital one that costs $1.50...

[Photo yesterday by Bobby Williams]

P.S.

Have you tried the bagels at Gulf? They don't look or taste as good as advertised...