What’s with abandoned Gas Stations?
I have often wondered why there are so many abandoned gas stations – and why so little ever seems to happen to them. This is not something outside my experience but is completely beyond my understanding. Until now. Patrick Johnstone does this sort of thing for a living – and he writes well. So take yourself over to NWimby and learn something. Warning: this is only part one – there is more to follow.
Stephen Rees's blog 
There have been a few former gas station sites in my neck of the woods that were or are being developed. All of them started with the environmental monitoring described in Patrick Johnstone’s blog (great site, BTW — thanks for the link) follwed by deep excavation, sometimes refilling with clean sand & gravel.
Seeing Shell Canada sell one of its old gas station sites in a pre-excavated condition for a four-storey condo complex on a major arterial gave me the idea that pre-excavated sites adjacent to subway stations, first used for accessing station box excavations and construction from the side, could work either for adjacent private development or for project-related TOD to obtain revenue to offset capital costs.
MB
April 29, 2013 at 1:43 pm