South Street Seaport Businesses Pick Up The Pieces After Superstorm Sandy

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It's been a long road back for some South Street Seaport businesses that were damaged in Superstorm Sandy -- and the journey isn't over yet.

As CBS 2's Alice Gainer reported, Marco Pasanella decided to leave the water mark up as a reminder of the historical flooding that ravaged his wine shop.

When the East River breached its bank, water quickly poured into Pasanella & Son Vintners.

MORE: Superstorm Sandy: Two Years Later | Photo Galleries

"Ten thousand bottles were floating the day after Sandy," said Pasanella, the shop's owner. "Luckily, only a couple of them broke."

Around the corner, Amanda Zink, owner of Salty Paw, prominently displays photos of the damage in the store's front window.

"The drywall was wet up till the grates here," explained Amanda Zink, owner of Salty Paw, a pet store and grooming spa. "I had all of our clothing hanging on the pipes here, and they were soaking wet.

"Lost everything," she said. "Had no flood insurance. Took a year for us to rebuild."

Barbalu, an Italian restaurant on Front Street, was underwater, too -- about 6 feet, said owner Stefano Barbagallo. It also took him a year to reopen.

"This was a ghost town," Barbagallo recalls.

The three businesses are located on South Street, Peck Slip and Front Street and are part of a merchants' alliance formed in the wake of Sandy called Old Seaport New York.

"We felt standing together shoulder to shoulder would be much more of an impact," said Zink.

Though some qualified for small loans and grants, they were mostly on their own.

"None of us have really seen the Sandy aid grant package yet," Zink said. "It's starting to fliter in."

While stores, bars and restaurants have reopened, the area is still not at 100 percent.

"I would say we're probably 75, 80 percent back," said Zink. "There's a couple of restaurants still working through the politics of loans and grants."

Meanwhile, Pier 17 at South Street Seaport is set for a major redevelopment.

Next to Pasanella's shop remain the vacant buildings of the former Fulton Fish Market. More empty buildings stand alongside those.

They haven't helped drive foot traffic to the area.

"The three buildings on the corner were all slated to be redeveloped just before Sandy, and the developer got cold feet afterwards and ended up selling the buildings," said Pasanella.

Two long years later, and the fear and vulnerability are still there.

"I kind of feel a little bit like, I've had a serious disease and people keep asking me, 'Are you OK?'" said Pasanella. "And I'm OK, but I'm not cured. I'm still getting better and we're going to get there, but it's not totally behind us."

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