A gas leak has shuttered several businesses inside Chelsea Market for the second day in a row. According to one vendor inside the building, after being alerted by building security about the smell of gas, Con Edison shut down one of the main three gas lines into the building on Tuesday, forcing businesses attached to that main to alter their operations.
"Due to an unexpected but necessary repair to a gas main pipe supplying part of 75 Ninth Avenue, certain ground floor retailers and tenants are operating on a limited basis or are temporarily closed," Chelsea Market said in a statement. "We apologize for any inconvenience, and will reopen the entire market as soon as possible."
The gas leak, which was first reported by Eater, affects several of the market's popular food vendors, including Mokbar, Creamline and Los Tacos No. 1. The shutter appears to mainly affect vendors in the east side of the building.
The Green Table and Rana are closed Wednesday (Irene Yoo)
Reached by phone this afternoon, The Green Table owner Mary Cleaver confirmed that she'd been operating on a limited basis yesterday and shut down the restaurant component of her business completely today.
"It was the first email in the morning yesterday when I turned on my phone, that the gas was out east of the waterfall, which is where we are in the market in the center of the concourse," Cleaver told us. "What we learned yesterday was there was a problem somewhere and they were working very hard to repair it and the good thing was that everybody is safe."
"We shut off gas at that location yesterday morning after finding leaks on the building’s internal piping," ConEdison told Gothamist. "In instances like this, the next step is for building management to hire a plumber and make repairs. Building management/the plumber then get a certification from the NYC DOB and provide paperwork to us. We perform what is called “an integrity test” to make sure there are no leaks. If everything passes, we turn on gas."
The situation was apparently not dangerous enough to evacuate the building at any point, as other vendors including Dizengoff and Numb Pang have remained open for the duration.
This is the second time in as many weeks that the Market's building has been the site of an emergency. A recent fire on the roof led to evacuations of upper floors, though the Market itself remained open during FDNY activities.
