Power of sale is fuelling any future purchase of a closed Petro-Canada gas station in Barrie's Allandale area.
Located at 170 Burton Ave., it’s listed at $5.2 million as a non-franchise business for sale by Global West Realty Ltd.
The independently owned gas station opened in 2021 and closed late last year, when large slabs of concrete blocked the vehicle entrances at Burton Avenue and Robinson Street.
The listing for this gas station and land is a power of sale, which takes place when an owner does not replay the mortgage on a property.
Walter Lohaza lives in the neighbourhood, what he calls in walking distance from the gas bar, and said a sale would be good news.
“I think so, because then there will be a presence there, and there will be less chance of any vandalism or other things going on,” he told BarrieToday. “Plus it’s convenient to have a gas station in the neighbourhood, so I guess that would be a positive thing in a number of ways.”
Lohaza said he’s unaware of any vandalism or Barrie police presence there to deal with any trouble.
“Things have been pretty quiet,” he said.” I’ve seen some children skateboarding around in the area, although I guess that’s not necessarily a problem.”
Lohaza said he doesn’t expect the property’s use to change, for the station to be torn down and a highrise built there, for example .
“I guess it’s not impossible, but I would imagine the cost of that would be pretty large,” he said, “so I doubt that would be economically feasible for anybody, unless it’s deemed that the gas station is not recoverable, because there seems to be some structural problems.”
Lohaza said he contacted the City of Barrie, sent a message to Service Barrie, but has received no response.
“They say they created a case, but I never heard anything after that,” he said of structural concerns.
Suncor Energy, which owns Petro-Canada, has said it has no information on the landowner because the property is independently owned, said Leithan Slade, corporate communications senior advisor with Suncor.
The original purchase price is also unknown, but the annual taxes are $25,000 — according to the listing — and the 200-by-200 foot property is zoned for commercial use.
This Petro-Can station had a car wash, two underground double-wall fibreglass storage tanks with a capacity of 150,000 litres and four gas dispensers with 10 nozzles — along with an online lotto terminal, an ATM/Bitcoin machine, an air pump and a vacuum.
The gas station also had a convenience store of 1,550 square feet and another 1,000 sq. ft. of space for a food partner, such as a pizza joint.
This property sits on 0.75 acres, with the new development of 100 freehold town homes right behind it.
The source of the for-sale listing data is the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board.
Suncor has said the initial investment in a Petro-Canada gas station ranges from $1 million to $5 million and up to $6 million-plus.
