Crown Heights' 73-99 Empire Boulevard Erased for Luxury Housing

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Photo courtesy of NYC Municipal Services/1940s.nyc From Mack Trucks to Apartments: A Century on Empire Boulevard For most of the twentieth century, the block at 73-99 Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights handled the heavy work of the city. Trucks came in for service. Tires were swapped out. Parts were stocked and sold. The buildings on this stretch of Brooklyn were built for vehicles, and for about sixty years, that's exactly what they served. The site directly neighbors the much taller Ebbets Field Apartment complex, which is the housing that replaced the ballpark. By 2025, both were rubble. By September 2026, the foundation of a 13-story apartment building was going in. A hundred years of industrial and automotive history on a single block, cleared in a matter of months. The main building at 73-99 Empire Boulevard went up in 1925 and opened as a Mack Truck auto service facility. At 29,000 square feet, it was built for the scale of commercial vehicle work: bay doors, floor drains, th...
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Q Petroleum Inc






I’ve had a strange fascination with an old petroleum products company along Riverside Avenue in Newark. Over the years, whenever I’m in the area, I make it a point to swing by and see what’s happening with the place. Once, I got curious enough to explore it more thoroughly. I was shocked by what I found—piles of paperwork scattered across the floor of an upstairs room. There were old timecards, business letters, and accounting sheets, all left behind in heaps of yellowing paper. Given the state of decay, I was honestly surprised the building hadn’t gone up in flames by then.













































In a smaller office, I found something else—Dexsil Clor-N-Oil-50 PCB testing kits, just lying on the ground. These kits, used to test transformer oils for PCBs, still go for about $123 on the market. Finding them just tossed aside felt strange, almost careless.


On a later visit, after a particularly harsh winter, I noticed water pooling in the basement. A burst pipe, most likely. I had no intention of venturing down there. The risk wasn’t worth it. Over time, it became clear that squatters had moved in. I’d seen signs of life, but during one of my visits, no one was around.


This time, my goal was to retake some photos with my newer camera, a Sony A7R IV, to improve on shots I’d taken years earlier. But things had changed. It was clear the building was being used for more than just squatting. It had fallen into an even darker state, a sad reminder of what happens when places like this are forgotten and left to decay.





















Old soda vending machine with $0.50 soda pops.









In my early research, I discovered that the site once operated under the name Q Petroleum Wharf, owned by Q Facility, Inc. Back in the day, barges would bring petroleum products up the Passaic River to the site. From there, 4-inch and 6-inch pipelines ran to eight large steel storage tanks, which had a total capacity of 43,450 barrels of oil. Those very same tanks still sit on the property, rusting away, now covered in layers of graffiti and murals.


On July 1, 2024, the main building caught fire. Firefighters battled the blaze for about half an hour, both by land and by boat. Hopefully, the City of Newark, which now owns the land, will take steps to demolish the site for good after the fire. 


While researching, I also came across another name tied to the address: B. & F. Oil Company. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any substantial information about the business. Sanborn maps for the area, which might have held some clues, are incomplete and missing key sections that would provide more insight.


As of October 2024, the building and storage tanks still stand despite the fire and its continued decay. Meanwhile, other abandoned properties up the street have been demolished and repurposed. This site, however, remains a stubborn relic of the past.


























































JUNK graffiti.
















GOOMBA graffiti on Gasoline Tank #5.





















Gasoline Tank #6


















































Veeder Root Gas Pump Meter Counters for Fuel Management.











This oil facility had several offices inside the main administrative building. 













An old Gateway desktop computer collects dust in a filing cabinet room.































Sources:



1. Smith, R. (2024, July 1). Firefighters Douse Blaze at Abandoned Newark Structure Along the Passaic River. RLS Media.

2. Port Series. (1978). United States: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 259


Location: 101 Riverside Ave, Newark, NJ 07104, USA

Comments

  1. bruceAugust 24, 2026 at 5:56 PM

    Thank you for the great urban explorer pics and little history of it. bizpedia notes Q Pet was registered in 1956. the aerial from 1953 does show those tanks and building on the riverfront, plus an expanded area with tanks across the street, all were existing even then so may have been under a different name before Q petroleum. You did great.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kareem KingAugust 25, 2026 at 10:12 PM

      Thank you for the kind words. I was hoping to find more legacy information and history, but unfortunately, some clerk's offices are not as thorough in answering FOIA requests. Thanks for the information.

      Delete

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