The police cleared a portion of the Union Square area late Thursday after a Consolidated Edison employee reported seeing two gasoline canisters in the back of an Oldsmobile Cutlass that was parked in front of the utility company’s headquarters, law enforcement officials said.

But the car, and the gas cans, belonged to a man who mows lawns for a living, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. The authorities lifted the evacuation at 12:45 a.m. Friday, about two and a half hours after the report was called in.

A police official said the car’s owner, whose name was not released, had parked on Irving Place to attend a concert in the Union Square neighborhood. There was “no malicious intent,” Mr. Browne said.

The gas cans were found on the floor of the car’s back seat, he said, and the police were concerned because the Cutlass was parked in front of the Con Ed headquarters at 4 Irving Place.