LOWER EAST SIDE — It was an eventful year for the East Village and Lower East Side.
An unexpected gas explosion rattled the East Village in 2015, while developers broke ground on a massive project designed to bring 1,000 residential units — half of them permanently affordable — to the Lower East Side. And throughout the year, locals found themselves saying goodbye to longtime neighborhood businesses.
DNAinfo New York took a look back at some of the 2015 stories that will continue shape the area in 2016.
The East Village Explosion
A gas explosion on the corner of East Seventh Street and Second Avenue that killed two men and destroyed three buildings grabbed headlines earlier in the year.
Although most residents and businesses in the nearby buildings have moved back since the March 26 incident, the site of the explosion has remained an empty plot, save for two memorials set up for victims Moises Ismael Locon Yac and Nicholas Figueroa. Photos of the two men hang from the chain-link fence surrounding the area.
Officials have said the explosion may have been caused by unauthorized pipe work in the building but the investigation is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, the Stage Restaurant, a beloved lunch counter located across the street from the blast, continues its efforts to reopen after the landlord attempted to evict the eatery weeks after the incident for allegedly performing illegal gas work.
Essex Crossing
Construction is currently under way for Essex Crossing, the massive project designed to build 1.9 million square feet of residential, commercial and community space on several blocks near Delancey, Broome and Grand streets from Ludlow to Clinton streets.
This year, the developers, Delancey Street Associates, released renderings of the new development and announced more of Essex Crossing’s new retail tenants, including a luxury bowling and restaurant chain and a Planet Fitness gym.
A Think Coffee outpost that will benefit Grand Street Settlement while also providing job training to teens and adults is also planned to move into the development.
Other institutions, like the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, have also expressed interest in moving into Essex Crossing.
The Neighborhood’s Changing Retail Scene
Many long-time businesses have been pushed out or forced to relocate as as parts of the East Village and Lower East Side continue to gentrify.
The neighborhoods lost several longtime restaurants, bars and businesses over the past year due to rent hikes or because their leases were not renewed, while other businesses — like the iconic Trash and Vaudeville — made plans to move to new locations to stay afloat.
Other neighborhood mainstays, like St. Marks Bookshop, are also in danger of closing in the new year.
Meanwhile, new development is expected to bring in new retailers to the area, leaving many residents wondering how the changing retail landscape will reshape the neighborhood.
The Lowline
The Lowline continued its efforts to build the world’s first underground park under Delancey Street but ran into a bit of controversy towards the end of the year.
The Lowline Lab opened in the former Essex Street Market building in October, to show visitors the technology designed to make an underground park possible as well as to collect data on the equipment, plant life and visitors’ reactions to the site.
About a month later, the Economic Development Corporation put out a call for “creative responses to activate” the Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Site — the vacant station Lowline’s founders had been eyeing for the project.
The EDC’s decision to put out a request for expressions of interest (RFEI) for the space drew criticism from some Community Board 3 members, who said the board should have been consulted before the announcement went out, according to reports.
The community board also passed a resolution requesting the EDC to rescind the RFEI to allow for its input during it December full board meeting, noting the Lowline’s public interest in the site and expressing its concern that the site “may be used for a purpose that would encourage luxury development and displacement of low income residents.”
The EDC extended the RFEI’s deadline for submissions to Feb. 1 from Dec. 23, according to reports.
Resiliency on the East River Waterfront
Resiliency efforts continued in 2015, with community meetings to explain the preliminary concepts and the design development of the city's large-scale flood protection system between Montgomery Street in the Lower East Side to East 23rd Street and to solicit community feedback.
The New York City Community Garden Coalition was also awarded a $2 million grant to study “storm water capture best practices,” and apply the results to 47 neighborhood gardens. A master plan is expected to be completed and approved by October next year, according to the NYCCGC’s website, with the implementation and construction completed by September 2019.
More resiliency measures could be on the way — the city announced plans in August to invest $100 million in storm protections stretching from Montgomery Street up to Battery Park City as part of a bid to secure $500 million in federal funding for resiliency measures.
