The Opportunity in Former Gas Stations

[kernals12]

Electric cars are here and since most people will have chargers at home, at work, or the parking lots of almost any restaurant or shopping center, we will need far fewer public charging stations than we have gas stations today, so a lot of real estate, much of it located on street corners, will be freed up. And this gives a golden opportunity for road engineers.


Long ago, New Jersey, of all states, came up with a way to remove left turns from intersections with jughandles. It's basically the same as the loops from a cloverleaf intersection.



And so on intersections like like this one, where gas stations occupy one or two (and sometimes three!) corners, you can easily put in jughandles with all the attendant benefits to safety and traffic flow.

[hotdogPi]

And the convenience stores?

[Rothman]

Gas stations are brownfields.

[Scott5114]

While we'll probably see a contraction in the number of gas stations, I doubt they'll go away that much. Most of them already barely make a profit on gas; the money there is in the convenience store angle. So I imagine we'll just see the awnings and fuel islands go away and the C-store stay there.

Even if there's a 50% contraction in the number of C-stores in the US, I don't know that we'll necessarily see cities buying up ROW to build jughandles. If they wanted to do that, they could do it now. Corner real estate remains valuable even if you take the C-store out of the equation. Notice that two of the corners on your screenshot have something other than a C-store there. I expect that most closed-down gas stations will simply go on the commercial real estate market and be replaced by a drug store or fast-food restaurant.

[Max Rockatansky]

While we'll probably see a contraction in the number of gas stations, I doubt they'll go away that much. Most of them already barely make a profit on gas; the money there is in the convenience store angle. So I imagine we'll just see the awnings and fuel islands go away and the C-store stay there.

Even if there's a 50% contraction in the number of C-stores in the US, I don't know that we'll necessarily see cities buying up ROW to build jughandles. If they wanted to do that, they could do it now. Corner real estate remains valuable even if you take the C-store out of the equation. Notice that two of the corners on your screenshot have something other than a C-store there. I expect that most closed-down gas stations will simply go on the commercial real estate market and be replaced by a drug store or fast-food restaurant.

We sell our gas only 5 cents above cost, basically it is a loss leader.  The consumable items are way higher margin and the cheaper gas we sell basically is just a way to draw people in.  If I was going to rate my healthiest business through COVID it would be far and away the mini-marts that grab and go consumables.  I can't see that type of business format realistically going through much of a decline post gas.  There is probably a good way to make some money on EV charging that hasn't been quite figured out yet too.

[froggie]

A very plausible scenario is that gas stations drop the gas pumps and install EV chargers, while keeping the convenience store portion.

[jeffandnicole]

We can never have enough coffee shops and drug stores.

This issue will be a few decades in the making, but I don't foresee states incorporating jughandles into their normal playbook.

[Mapmikey]

I wouldn't be surprised, if full charging continues to take a fair amount of time in the future, if other types of food establishments. museums, tourist shops, etc. install chargers in the future, since you have a captive audience who might want to grab a bite while they wait, etc...

[paulthemapguy]

As someone that's actively administering a gas station demolition contract at his job...Gas station removals are very involved and very expensive, mainly because of the large potential for gasoline to pollute the surrounding soil and water.  On top of general contractor for demolishing the building, we need a special certified gas station demolition contractor certified by the EPA for removing the tanks, a staff member from the state fire marshal's office to supervise the site, and an environmental consultant to survey the site for petroleum contamination.  The environmental consultant takes soil samples and water samples around the site, and if any of it is contaminated (usually at least some is), we have to dig it out and dispose of it properly.  All the soil, water, and underground tank linings need to be disposed by a certified waste hauler and hauled to an approved dump site.  Contrast this with a typical demolition contract, where I usually don't even need to be on site when it takes place because there isn't much to consider.  We don't need to build much to specification if the final product is a flatly graded site with nothing on it.

With that said, a future with more vehicles powered without fossil fuels certainly should be on the horizon.  It seems that kind of future would imply a smaller number of gas stations, but it will be difficult and costly repurposing those sites currently housing gas stations.  Developers would much rather repurpose or develop any other site that doesn't have so much potential for contamination.  This doesn't mean that it won't happen; but former gas station sites are typically developers' last choice for development.

[Dirt Roads]

Back some 5 years ago here in Central Carolina, former gas station locations (and other similar size parcels) were being converted into triplex shoppes (typically mattress store + bigname cell phone dealer + coffee shop, often Starbucks).  The mattress business collapsed before COVID, and since then the expansion of Starbucks came to a halt.   There are a few of the gas stations around here that didn't survive this year's price increases, but they just simply pulled out the pumps and are continuing with their secondary businesses (one is a mechanic shop, another is a U-Haul rental; another deals in farm supplies but is still selling gasoline).

[kernals12]

Back some 5 years ago here in Central Carolina, former gas station locations (and other similar size parcels) were being converted into triplex shoppes (typically mattress store + bigname cell phone dealer + coffee shop, often Starbucks).  The mattress business collapsed before COVID, and since then the expansion of Starbucks came to a halt.   There are a few of the gas stations around here that didn't survive this year's price increases, but they just simply pulled out the pumps and are continuing with their secondary businesses (one is a mechanic shop, another is a U-Haul rental; another deals in farm supplies but is still selling gasoline).

But electric cars require much less maintenance so the need for mechanics will fall.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

For a moment, I thought Kernals had become interested in roadside art and restoration of old buildings.
Example from Columbus... (might be behind paywall)
https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2021/08/19/gahanna-coffee-shop-owners-run-art-gallery-out-abandoned-car-wash/5496277001/

[1995hoo]

I can think of several former gas stations that have been turned into restaurants. For some reason, 30 years ago old gas stations were popular for Chinese restaurants in Charlottesville (don't know if that's still the case). Closer to where I live now, Tempo Restaurant in Alexandria is a pretty good French/Northern Italian restaurant located in what used to be a Texaco station.

[webny99]

There was an abandoned gas station near me for a while - since torn down - that I maintain should become a Dunkin'. It's a perfect location - even better than most of the existing Dunkin' locations IMO.

I even contacted Dunkin' Brands about it, but nothing ever became of it (sadly but unsurprisingly).

[StogieGuy7]

Former gas stations often have significant subsurface contamination issues from leaking underground storage tanks. While it's true that UST regulations required a change to more modern fiberglass double-walled tanks with interstitial monitoring, legacy issues still occur - and lines can still have leaks. Seldom do you demo a gas station without finding at least some contamination to soil. Occasionally (though not as often as in the past) groundwater contamination is identified too - which is VERY expensive to deal with. 

So, any kind of redevelopment involving a former gas station site usually has to be 'worth it' financially, not that this is a concern for the government.  But then again, governments don't often want to get involved in cleanups, not voluntarily at least. They'd prefer someone else foot the bill, develop the site and pay taxes on it. While your idea is interesting, it wouldn't seem easy to sell when there are other more profitable uses for such parcels.

[Life in Paradise]

Former gas stations often have significant subsurface contamination issues from leaking underground storage tanks. While it's true that UST regulations required a change to more modern fiberglass double-walled tanks with interstitial monitoring, legacy issues still occur - and lines can still have leaks. Seldom do you demo a gas station without finding at least some contamination to soil. Occasionally (though not as often as in the past) groundwater contamination is identified too - which is VERY expensive to deal with. 

So, any kind of redevelopment involving a former gas station site usually has to be 'worth it' financially, not that this is a concern for the government.  But then again, governments don't often want to get involved in cleanups, not voluntarily at least. They'd prefer someone else foot the bill, develop the site and pay taxes on it. While your idea is interesting, it wouldn't seem easy to sell when there are other more profitable uses for such parcels.

This is such a big problem with the older properties.  Depending upon the locality, much of the time if you bought the property, you own the potential problem and the remediation.  Remediation can be much more expensive than most of us imagine.

[DandyDan]

Most of them in my area end up as used car lots.

[allniter89]

Around here many former gas stations are now payday loan joints.

[Ned Weasel]

We can never have enough coffee shops and drug stores.

This issue will be a few decades in the making, but I don't foresee states incorporating jughandles into their normal playbook.

Yeah, the thing is, most states would probably rather sell off roadway footprints for real estate rather than the opposite.

[Rothman]

We can never have enough coffee shops and drug stores.

This issue will be a few decades in the making, but I don't foresee states incorporating jughandles into their normal playbook.

Yeah, the thing is, most states would probably rather sell off roadway footprints for real estate rather than the opposite.

What's the opposite of real estate?

Also:  A municipality can never have enough mattress stores.

[hotdogPi]

What's the opposite of real estate?

fake estate

[Ned Weasel]

What's the opposite of real estate?

Also:  A municipality can never have enough mattress stores.

What I meant was, the opposite of selling roadway footprints for real estate, which is buying real estate for roadway, which was the OP's idea.

[cpzilliacus]

Around here many former gas stations are now payday loan joints.

Seems unique to Virginia, but a lot of former gas stations in the Commonwealth are now title loan shops.

[epzik8]

This ought to be a Reddit post

[sparker]

From what I've seen locally, ex-gas stations around here have become (a) test-only smog-certificate facilities (b) automotive sound system/car alarm sales/installation facilities (make use of the service bays), or (c) somewhat less common, fruit and vegetable stands (which seems to be a Santa Clara "thing").  I have a former housemate who purchased an old station for purpose (b), but eventually went out of business when cars started featuring higher-end "brand name" sound systems as factory installs (it was the mid-80's).  Oh -- just remembered another Santa Clara thing -- drive-through coffee vendors (curiously, both near Kaiser Hospital there).