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Second Avenue Subway's Much-Maligned "Muck Houses" Are Coming Down
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 24, 2013
Modified Apr 24, 2013
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Gothamist
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 24, 2013
Modified Apr 24, 2013
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Yesterday the MTA announced that the giant muck houses used to carve out portions of the Second Avenue Subway will soon be dismantled. "Really? I don't know whether to believe you," a waiter at an empty Japanese restaurant sitting in the shadow of the bland edifice on 72nd Street said when a reporter told him it would be broken down next month. "Ever since that went up, business has been going down, down, down, down."
The waiter, who has been working at the restaurant for eight years and asked that his name not be printed, said that the MTA workers rarely came in for food. "Maybe it's too expensive, I don't know. They eat pizza."
Richard Barry, a clerk at the Pet Market next door, said that the Egyptian restaurant on the corner of 73rd, Pyramida Grill, was forced to close last summer. "He couldn't hold on any more. So now it's just us, the Japanese restaurant, and the CVS. There used to be a bakery too across the street but they're gone."
"Who would assume that there's a pet store behind this big wall?" Barry said. "I have to ask people what the weather's like outside because I can't tell from here." He added that the MTA workers tipped him off that the muck station was on its way out. "They come in here to buy food for their pets and they let me know. It's definitely good. I mean, did you ever hear those blasts?"
A resident of Charing Cross House, its west-facing windows almost entirely blocked by the muck house, which has stood for three years, reached for an apt metaphor when asked what the dismantling meant. "Initially people were really upset because it blocked the light, it took over the sidewalk, and there were environmental concerns. But now you can see a light at the end of the tunnel."
The muck house on 69th isn't set to be removed until the fall, and the new Q train stations running up to 96th aren't projected to be finished until 2016. "The landlord tried to raise rent on us but we'd have to leave and a vacant store isn't good for the block, so he backed down," Barry said. "And when you think about it, the subway stop's gonna open up right here. So people will get out of the subway, and boom: a pet store."
Tagged
MTA
peace and quiet
second avenue subway
upper east side
original
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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