As my car collection begins to overflow, I have a reoccuring dream of finding a derelict gas station with one or two service bays, buying it up and using it as storage/fortress of solitude.
Are there commerical real estate "foreclosures"? Or even just listings of similar properties?
I know you don't want to get a beat down gas station with leaking tank issues, maybe an old garage would be better. There was an old as station on the busiest street by me but it had leaking gas tanks underground so it sat for years before someone would touch it. So be careful of EPA regulations and whatnot unless you can find one with the tanks removed. It definitely sounds like a great man cave though
^^^ he speaks the truth.
A coworker of mine used to be an EPA inspector for gas stations. Most of the older ones that are closed were shuttered because they can't afford to have the tanks fixed/updated. IF there was a leak, you don't want to be the guy stuck with the cleanup bill.
Be careful and do your homework on any property you look at.
I have the same dream; they are frequently such neat little buildings. But the clean-up for the gas tanks is in the $150,000+ range. If they haven't been removed you're on the hook and if they have then the property is too expensive.
Commercial property does get foreclosed upon but it's usually managed by the bank for a while then sold through usual channels. It's not unusual for a bank to hold commercial property so it's not quite as much of a hot potato as a house. But you can still find good deals especially if you're not picky about location. (but a bad area would make for a robbed fortress of solitude!)
AH, good call. There was an abandoned gas station that was prime real estate in L.A. I wondered why it never got snatched up...did some research and the gas tanks were the issue.
I was also considering this because of my proximity to Harris Hill Road. It's on the outskirts of Austin, and the land out there is uhhh...rural (cheap).
How would I go about finding out if the tanks are leaking or not. Does the EPA have a searchable database?
Yeah, you don't want to get anywhere near a leaking underground gas tank.
John Fitch got clobbered hard over an old heating oil tank that was on his property. When he discovered it was leaking he reported it to the state of Connecticut who promptly slammed him with what was going to be an enormous bill to clean it up.
http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2011/02/08/news/doc4d50d7ad7743e951877420.txt
In Charleston several years ago a bank bought a piece of property which was the site of an old gas station, the story was it had already been cleaned up. During demolition and excavation, they found an additional tank which had not been reported etc, it probably dated from the '40's or '50's. The cleanup cost a wad and delayed the project for something like 2 years, last I heard the bank had to pay for it and they turned around and sued the oil company to get their money back.
Being a gas station does not automatically mean you should not buy it. But you must do your due diligence.
It's usually the state's, not the EPA, that regulates tanks, but not always.
John Fitch got screwed because first, it's Connecticut and second he had a home heating oil tank for which there was no state trust fund. Also, that release was blown way out of proportion (like I said its CT). We have cleaned up many gas station sites for way less money than was projected here.
You can contact the state enviromental agency and give them and address of the site and any names under which they may have operated. You can get this from city directories at the library. Sometimes, this stuff is available on-line. The state may also have a file with pertinent data. If the tanks were registered, the state has a responsible party and would go after them. Exxon was once on the hook for many of their old stations. If you have done a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (this is what I do for a living), you have done your Due Diligence and should not be held accountable. But, you can have perfectly clean closure and something may have been missed (like the tank discussed above). And you can always be sued for anything. Also environmental assessments usually only look at tanks and petroleum and miss solvents often used in garages and hydraulic oil from lifts (PCBs).
Many states now have a Brownfield program or a voluntary cleanup program whereby you can buy contaminated preorty (either suspected or actually) and will be protected from liability. It costs some money and takes some time to get into the program. And there are often some restrictions of what you can do.
Several of the drug store chains are now buying former gas stations and drycleaners (even worse that gas stations) and redeveloping with stores. These companies are NOT risk tolerant.
Curmudgeon wrote: John Fitch got clobbered hard over an old heating oil tank that was on his property. When he discovered it was leaking he reported it to the state of Connecticut who promptly slammed him with what was going to be an enormous bill to clean it up. http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2011/02/08/news/doc4d50d7ad7743e951877420.txt
Every time I read about this is get pisseder and pisseder. I bet the state has now gone after the estate.
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