Another Northside Landmark Gone;Mobil Mews Condos Should be a Gas

Another seldom-discussed but omnipresent Northside icon: the old Mobil gas station sign that's marked the Williamsburg corner of Berry Street and North 7th since the early '60s - is gone for good as of this morning. A crew replacing the old half-hearted fence around the former filling station said "some guy who came by" got it, adding "a lot of people are asking about it."

The shiny new fence, complete with barbed wire top, almost certainly portends the start of the next life for 131 Berry. Although a check of the DOB info site shows no building permits applied for nor issued, the prime location one block west of the Bedford L-train stop - and directly across from Karl Fischer's soul-sucking Sevenberry condos - can only mean one thing:

Mobil Mews: Full-Service Premium Condominium Living, Filling Up Fast.
Occupancy, Spring 2010

The foundation dig on this one should be fun. At least at the Roebling Oil Fields development over on North 11th (now the Warehouse 11 condos), connecting the blobs meant some detective work. But Mobil Mews begins life as a gas station: DOB "Little E" hazmat restrictions and all.

And as for the iconic Mobil sign - another symbol of Williamsburg's gritty urban past, soon to be forgotten: tanks for the memories.