Home Asides Link of the Day: The decline of Manhattan’s gas stations

Link of the Day: The decline of Manhattan’s gas stations

by Benjamin Kabak

Here’s a fascinating infrastructure story from Crain’s New York’s Brian Chappatta: Manhattan is running out of gas stations. Chappatta profiles the dying breed of fill stations on the isle of New York county. Once upon a time back in 2009, there were 58 gas stations in Manhattan, and now there are just 41. Only four gas stations remain that are both south of 96th Street and east of 10th Avenue.

As Crain’s notes, two factors have driven gas stations out of business: midtown real estate value and the high costs of delivering fuel to the island. “It’s just a sign of the times,” Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing at Prudential Douglas Elliman, said. “Selling off gas stations accelerated at the height of the market before the downturn, and now it’s picking up again. As money gets freed up and development moves forward, once again we’ll see some of those sites being bid on.”

Eventually, more gas stations will close as the land they sit on grows more valuable, and gas prices will increase in Manhattan. As long as cars (and non-hybrid taxis) remain a prominent part of the city’s transportation network, consumers will have to pay more as gas prices increase. The decline of gas stations should, however, create an opening for New York to become a potential leader in the electric vehicle field. After all, plug-in stations are far more flexible and take up far less real estate than a traditional filling station.

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17 comments

Jonathan October 10, 2011 - 5:39 pm

Ben, I have to disagree with you. Fuel (gas or Diesel) stations and electric charging stations would take up the same amount of room, because it’s not the pump that uses the space, it’s the vehicle being charged.

If you’re thinking that cars can charge in on-street parking spaces, what’s to keep indigent passersby from simply unplugging the car and plugging in their own phone charger or whatever? A good transformer can adjust any voltage to what’s necessary.

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Nathanael October 15, 2011 - 9:58 pm

Nope, electric charging stations still take less space. Gas stations need those big underground tanks, which now have endless regulations… and the transformers necessary for electric charging are smaller and more easily located.

Basically, cars can charge in suitably equipped on-street parking spaces. The problem of lockable cords (to prevent removal from the car) is a subtle one, but not really that difficult, while the problem of money can be handled with something akin to the credit-card-only gas pumps and ticket machines.

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JebO October 10, 2011 - 5:43 pm

Manhattan may be the first and only borough to have more subway stations than gas stations.

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Kid Twist October 10, 2011 - 5:54 pm

Someone should build a gas station on East 69th Street.

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Benjamin Kabak October 10, 2011 - 5:57 pm

Well played. I laughed.

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Andrew October 10, 2011 - 9:22 pm

With a roaring fireplace.

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Nathanael October 15, 2011 - 9:59 pm

Definitely a funny thought after the last post. 🙂 Thanks.

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Miles Bader October 10, 2011 - 8:05 pm

annnnnnd…. good riddance! The more annoying it is to drive, the less people will do it.

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ferryboi October 11, 2011 - 12:55 pm

You are correct in that assumption (not that it was ever a cakewalk to drive into Manhattan). I spend a lot of time in NJ now, going to dinner, shopping for clothes, food, and most of my high-ticket items (furniture, appliances…), and buying gas for 40 cents per gallon cheaper than NYC. I can park for free in a nice, big lot, go to the movies (matinees included) and generally enjoy myself without all the hassle of Manhattan.

Will NYC’s economy collapse because I go to NJ now? No, but I’m spending a lot more time and money in the Garden State. Cut back on gas stations, raise the tolls, and institute congestion pricing. I don’t care anymore, my Manhattan driving days are over.

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Larry Littlefield October 11, 2011 - 1:17 pm

FYI that is the hurdle every U.S. downtown has to get though.

The extensive space required to store and service automobiles turn them into “no there there” pedestrian dead zones that are inherently inferior to to the suburban shopping malls and office parks they compete with for those arriving by car.

But unless they have the critical mass needed to attract people traveling other than by car, or paying to park, the expanded development on parking lots and gas station sites will lack a market.

I think it’s fair to say that Manhattan doesn’t have to worry about that dilemma anymore. For every person who won’t come if they can’t drive, another person is attracted to the one place you don’t have to.

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ferryboi October 11, 2011 - 1:28 pm

“For every person who won’t come if they can’t drive, another person is attracted to the one place you don’t have to.”

True. But one wonders if, person-for-person, the dollar amount spent by drivers vs public transit is the same. Between tolls, parking, gas, going out to dinner/movie/B’way show, shopping, etc, your avg visitor driving into the city spends a good wad of cash. And oftentimes the driving visitor is not coming into the city alone, but with one or more friends/family.

Does someone taking the subway/commuter rail into town spend as much? What about that 18% tax on parking (that’s a lot of tax money going away if thousands of folks decide to either not drive in, or worse, not even go to Manhattan). Just curious if there’s a point where less cars = less business/tax money coming into city/state coffers?

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Chris G October 11, 2011 - 5:34 pm

I can answer the 18% tax on parking.

When more people don’t drive and that tax declines, the space dedicated to parking lots will decrease. And that land will be used for things that will in fact out strip a parking lot in benefit to the city.

Andrew ACG October 11, 2011 - 5:38 pm

I think you’d have a point in many, many US cities, but if there’s anywhere where there’s an exception or little to no disparity, it’d be Manhattan. I don’t think that replacing drivers with transit-riders in New York would have an appreciable effect on money coming in.

I think the key is that you’re not competing on equal terms. The city will always be inferior to places like New Jersey in terms of shopping malls, easy/free parking, etc. But the point is, visitors come to New York because it offers amenities not available elsewhere. There’s no Broadway on Long Island or Fifth Avenue in Westchester.

And for those people who want to take in these amenities, a large proportion of these are likely to be suburbanites who, more often than not, will commute in by train anyway on the weekdays. They’ll probably do the same on weekends since it’s precisely so expensive to drive and park in Manhattan.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I just don’t think that New York is a weak enough tourist attraction that making it difficult to drive in will reduce the amount of tourist dollars. If driving around is more important to you than going to a Broadway show, then you won’t go, and the Big Apple will lose your tax and tourist dollars. But there are ten people behind you who want to see the same show, eat at the same (pricey) restaurant, buy expensive cupcakes in the Village, and who will just hop on the train to get in, even if they’d drive anywhere else in America.

Nathanael October 15, 2011 - 10:01 pm

And that’s not even mentioning the museums and educational institutions. Comparable facilities in New Jersey are… oh, wait, there aren’t any north of Princeton.

Rockrose Development October 11, 2011 - 9:59 am

We think this would be a very interesting endeavor! It’s a great idea, Ben. Perhaps we’ll see it in action one day…

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petey October 11, 2011 - 10:33 am

there used to be one on first and 91st, iirc. they had tires too.
gone now dammit.

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lolny'ers February 25, 2012 - 1:26 am

Folks here is an old link why and is old history. Stop speculating with pointless arguments the author is right http://www.nysun.com/new-york/.....tan/30892/

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