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Middle Eastern Eatery Closes, Gulf Gas Station Razed in Crown Heights

By Sonja Sharp | January 22, 2014 1:09pm
 A Gulf gas station at Eastern Parkway and Beford Avenue is being torn down, while a nearby falafel bar folds after just two months on Franklin Avenue. 
Gulf Gas Razed as Fez Hummus Bar Folds
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CROWN HEIGHTS — Just two months after it opened, Franklin Avenue's long-anticipated Fez Hummus Bar has served its last falafel. 

The Moroccan-themed Israeli eatery closed on Jan. 13, after just weeks on the busy strip between Eastern Parkway and Lincoln Place, workers said.

"It could've been a great place but I guess they didn't give it the time to flourish," said former general manager Ricardo Valdez. "I was there all last week closing the accounts and the providers."

The restaurant at 798A Franklin Ave. had served modern interpretations of Israeli classics, including falafel balls stuffed with salmon.

In another high-profile closing in the neighborhood, the Gulf Gas Station at Bedford Avenue and Eastern Parkway shuttered late last year and the former service station and convenience store is now being torn down.  

On Jan. 2, the Department of Buildings issued a permit for a $60,000 demolition project on the site, including the removal of the station's existing canopy, columns and foundation, as well as the removal of five 4,000-gallon underground storage tanks, records show.

Neither the demolition company nor Gulf Gas project manager responsible for the project immediately returned phone calls or emails for comment. 

Broker Michael Amirkhanian said the lot is under contract for sale, but he could not disclose details about the buyer or the space's future use. City property records did not show the sale as of Wednesday.

"It's under contract," Amirkhanian said. "There's nothing we can report at this time."