Gas stations are vanishing from Washington’s inner suburbs

[cpzilliacus]

Washington Post: Gas stations are vanishing from Washington's inner suburbs

In Bethesda, in the middle of car-loving suburbia, gas stations are going the way of the drive-in movie.

Along busy Wisconsin Avenue, two Exxons and a BP have stopped selling gas or have closed completely, making way for a high-rise apartment building and a new bank. A Sunoco, the area's last Wisconsin Avenue station, is being sold to a developer with plans for a six-floor office building.

[Brandon]

1. Permitting for new stations is more difficult than in the past.

2. The stations left are bigger than before and sell more fuel, and more types of fuel (gasoline - 87,89,92; diesel; E85, biodiesel, etc).

3. The margins in the gas station business are very slim.  They get more margin from the food and drink items they sell in the c-store.

[oscar]

Seems a little bit of overstatement, at least on the Virginia side.  While gas stations have disappeared in some corridors with high real estate values, gas stations on less prestigious corridors (such as Lee Highway, Wilson Blvd., and Glebe Rd.) are hanging on, even in innermost suburb Arlington.  To say nothing of Seven Corners, and Leesburg Pike to the southeast (where I usually refuel, if I can't wait until my next trip out of the metro area) -- one layer of suburbs beyond Arlington, but still well inside the Beltway.

Methinks the Post reporter needs to get around more, and not extrapolate from the generally ritzy addresses she sampled.

[ARMOURERERIC]

This was a common complaint in Montgomery County 25 years ago when I lived there.

[kendancy66]

First time in DC area since 2003 last week.  The Sunoco on Route 1 by Huntington Dr in Alexandria, that I used to get car inspection and gas is toast.  I think there was also a Texaco station across the street, by where they used to sell fireworks. Only a empty field there now.

[oscar]

The article discussed here appeared on page A1 of the print edition of today's Washington Post.  For the print edition, the headline writer was much more careful and accurate than the one who did the headline for the online version:

A ghost town for gas seekers
Rising land prices have nearly picked Bethesda main drag clean of pumps

[andrewkbrown]

First time in DC area since 2003 last week.  The Sunoco on Route 1 by Huntington Dr in Alexandria, that I used to get car inspection and gas is toast.  I think there was also a Texaco station across the street, by where they used to sell fireworks. Only a empty field there now.

That's right below where I live now.

[Doctor Whom]

Given the way Bethesda has been changing over the past few decades, the highest and best use for those properties was bound to move away from things like gas stations.

[froggie]

First time in DC area since 2003 last week.  The Sunoco on Route 1 by Huntington Dr in Alexandria, that I used to get car inspection and gas is toast.

That land was needed for staging during the Wilson Bridge replacement project.  Now that the project's over, Sunoco (who still owns that land) is applying with the county to build a new gas station at the same spot.  They presented to the Huntington Community Association before I transferred next year.  Personally, I think it should be left as-is...that land will inevitably be needed for an interchange on Route 1 at Huntington Ave, especially since the community (and to the lesser extent, the county) wants to redevelop the central Huntington area (and get rid of that Godforsaken strip mall a block from the Metro).

Given the way Bethesda has been changing over the past few decades, the highest and best use for those properties was bound to move away from things like gas stations.

Concur.  Far more economic gain building mixed-use at those locations.