A service station that’s stood for nearly 60 years at the corner of West Innes Street and Mahaley Avenue will soon be a memory.
Superior Oil Co., which owns West Innes Exxon, has closed the business and plans to demolish building and sell the property.
Steve Jarrett, president of Superior Oil, said that’s being done now because, among other things, it was time to replace the station’s underground fuel storage tanks.
“We were going to have to tear up the lot anyway, to get the tanks out,” Jarrett said.
And instead of spending more money to upgrade and replace them — a continual and costly process — the company decided to simply sell the property, he said.
Jarrett said the first order of business was to make sure there were no environmental problems with the property, and he doesn’t suspect any.
With the tanks removed, the company will raze the building and market the lot. It will all take couple of months, and Jarrett said there are no plans yet for the site.
“I’ve had some parties talking to me about it, but it’s just in the talking stages, nothing serious yet,” he said. “I’m not going to do anything until I get it completely cleaned up.”
Superior Oil opened the station in 1954 under the Crown banner, Jarrett said. And even with more recently built gas stations attached to convenience stores taking up two of the other three corners at the intersection, he said business remained good.
That may be because the West Innes Exxon was one of the last stations around to offer a full-service island, where a customer could wait in the car while an employee pumped the gas.
“I want to thank our loyal customers,” Jarrett said. “I hate it for the employees, and I hate it for our customers, but unfortunately things change.”