This seems to presuppose the existence of a buyer who can plunk down a high six figure (more likely seven figure) sum in cash and is still so unsophisticated as to not inquire about environmental issues.
If there is financing involved the transaction will not close without environmental inspections.
Now a residential property in an overheated market…
ETA: We may be drifting from GQ territory
Between Sinclair taking over AND SHUTTING DOWN a bunch of gas stations in my area, they briefly sold gasoline for $2.49 a gallon. I’m sure this was a ploy to empty out the tanks ahead of time, and who knows what else was in that gas.
Another factor in old gas stations just sitting vacant is that state and federal agencies will only get actively involved in cleaning up a site if there’s an active public hazard, like a plume of contaminated groundwater threatening to impact a creek, drinking water well or such. If contamination is limited to on-site soils, the property may well just sit for years until someone decides that the redevelopment value of the property exceeds the cost of cleanup.
Do you have a cite for this? Brownfields clean up is a massive expenditure, and there are certainly Superfund-eligible properties that have just sat around for a decade, but for the most part, if the location is usable and a developer has half a clue, the extensive funds available get the process moving fairly quickly.
Sure, but by buying the lot, you are now responsible for the contamination. You may not be able to sell it, without cleaning it up, and if it starts to contaminate ground water, you’re liable.
There is no use of ground water in cities.
My cite is my 30 years of experience preparing Environmental Site Assessments. Never came across a superfund site that was a single gas station.
I agree that if there’s a developer with the interest and savvy, money can be found. But small cleanups are rarely if ever instigated by the public agencies.
Toronto, built on glacial till, is full of underground rivers that ultimately end up in Lake Ontario where millions get their drinking water from. We very much care what ends up in our ground water
There’s a lot about two miles from me that used to hold a gas station - the story I’ve heard is that that lot was intended to be made into a retirement facility, but the cleanup issues prevented that; so the lot remains empty to this day.
Thank you. I’m sure I’m relying mostly on confirmation bias from exposure from my friend’s work.
Bakersfield & Fresno, CA
https://mavensnotebook.com/californias-groundwater/#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20state’s%20largest,groundwater%20to%20support%20their%20population.
California depends on groundwater for a major portion of its annual water supply, and sustainable groundwater management is essential to a reliable and resilient water system.
Until just a few years ago, Albuquerque relied entirely on groundwater. We now use river water when it’s available, but we still have wells as backup.
I think you’ll feel right at home here.
If a gas station is no longer a desirable business in a particular location, it’s very likely that not much else is going to be a good fit for retail either. It’s not an environmental issue per se, it’s a retail attractiveness issue.
In almost all the cases I’ve been involved in, the location is abutted by thriving retail, office and/or service locations. This is a self selected sample because my employer at our clients are only interested in those locations because they are attractive retail locations.
Sometimes we are trying to replace a standalone gas station (or one with a repair bay or two) with a gas/convenience unit. Can’t do that either without environmental clearances.
@Twoflower has posted their experiences as well.
Sometimes it’s worth it to eat the $500k-1m it would take to clean up the site, because the location is profitable. Obviously a marginal location will find no takers. But a lot of the would be taken if it wasn’t for the underground pig in a poke.
A lot can change in the attractiveness of a location over 10-20 years, which is how long some of these locations have been sitting abandoned.
Also standalone gas stations aren’t very attractive propositions these days (and I mean for 30 years now).
I would say that the locations would be quite attractive for some businesses. But I agree replacing a gas station with a gas station is unlikely to be a success since there are reasons companies close these things. It has always puzzled me one sees this often; a business replaced by a similar business. Of course people sell businesses for many reasons, but a lot of the replacements seem to struggle.
There’s also redeveloping a vacant former retail property for a different use. My main clients were affordable housing developers. I worked on several projects where they found it worthwhile to take on the remediation of a long-vacant former gas station in order to build subsidized apartments.
Fast food or convenience stores fit well, not much else i agree…
I’m personally familiar with this former gas station.
Those double doors are the building’s original entrance; the part of the structure with the single door is a later pre-fab addition for more office space. The new owners had to remove the underground reserve tank(s) and check for soil contamination.
Here’s another former gas station; as you can see, this one was completely redeveloped. Same deal with the underground reserves and soil contamination.