there are a few bars in tulsa that used to be gas stations. arnies bar ,crow creek and mercury lounge. some still have the roll up bay doors .
Mark, If you lived nearer to me I'd repoint it for you! I used to repoint castles and shit like that for a living! Nick.
there is a old sinclair station still being used as a repair shop not far from my home. owner is in his 70s, almost just uses it as a place to hang out. i chat with him now and again. one of these days! to satisfy my craving in the meantime, i built this for my wife for her "garden shed" kinda got carried away.
where i used to live in Virginia there was an old service station my wife and i tried to buy; it was on top of a hill and was a two story stone station proper with a separate two story two bay garage (upper story was living quarters in itself) but property in the mid '80's was going crazy expensive. semi's ran through there constantly though.... pulling a grade in both directions or jake-braking down the other side? would have never slept!
We have several friends who have purchased airplane hangers at some of the smaller airports around the DFW area. They add a second floor for living quarters and have all the bottom space for garage and storage with down stairs 3/4 bathrooms and little kitchen areas. They don't own airplanes, just car folks looking for space for their car habit.
i would love an old gas station for some kind of hobby shop or hangout and have an old fire station to live in with the Krass & Bernie fire pole down to the shop !!!
Cool idea, but that one looked a lot better as a gas station - pretty boring as a house. Also, keep in mind, a lot of stations will likely have some serious toxic remediation that would be a good idea to do before deciding to make it a house and that can get real expensive, real quick.
I love old commercial buildings, they have a great appeal, some of them are a lot more stylized than the average house, which even if it had some personality, most have been remodeled every decade or so to the point they all look the same. Me and a friend went and looked at a building nearby that used to be a funeral home. 3 stories with a full basement and a dumb waiter that would go to every floor. Tin ceiling, huge brick building with over 9000 square feet for 58K. I couldn't talk him into it though. And the lack of a garage or space for a garage kinda kills it for me too. Very neat though. There's also an old school house locally that someone remodeled, but they just kept adding onto it and changing things, it looks like any other house now. I think they had good intentions but personally I think it was a waste of that building.
on river road in hackensack , nj , there are several abandoned gas stations that so contaminated the earth , looks like a post atomic attack
I haven't seen it done, but i've dreamed of it. I love vintage gas stations and i'd dang sure buy one and live in it if i could!
One better than an old gas station is an old firehouse. I knew a guy that I went to college with that lived in one. It was brick. He lived upstairs and downstairs was the garage where the firetrucks used to be parked. It even had the brass pole to slide down in a hurry. I was super jealous and still am. What a lucky fucker.
theres an old run down service station about 4 miles from my house, it would take a ton of work, but it would be cool. it was probably the first Gas Station in Michigan on the road north out of Ohio (Telegraph-US24) Have no idea if the city owns it..or who has ownership. another 20 years and mother nature is going to reduce it to nothing I'll try to remember to shoot a picture of it and post it
I'll agree with that, don't forget the hydraulic lift. Our family business consists of mainly drilling and getting soil samples for clients to see how impacted the soil is at gas stations.
I don't know what the EPA is like in the IS but it is impossible to get a ols 'servo' re zoned for living accomidation over here due to contamination issues. I bet it would be some serious $$. It would be very cool though.
Sir, all I can say to that is I want to build a garage like that someday. The difference is, I WOULD live in it, whether my wife liked it or not
I am planning on building a vintage style gas station in my property next door to my house and make a shop downstairs and partial living upstairs in the future. I can't wait it will have a half circle turnaround under the carport that connects to my driveway. I have been collecting vintage signs and merchandise at swapmeets and shows. Still need to get a couple old pumps. This thread is great inspiration!
I agree would be very cool to convert and live in an old service station, there are few hurdles that would have to cleared. In 2006, I purchased an old gas station in the downtown district of a town of 40,000 in Michigan. Converted the property into an old '50's style diner/soda fountain. (daddyosdiner.com) I spent $9,000 on a phase I and Phase II envirmental analysis to prove the tanks had been removed and there was no contamination on the site. This was required as no bank would write a mortgage on the property until this was done. Costs would have gotten crazy had any contamination been found. Now you know why there are so many abandoned gas stations - too damn expensive to deal with. Also, most are zoned commercial and would require a usually long and tiresome rezoning process. Go for the fire station - not so much of a pain in the ass!!! As for the diner, restaurants are like boats - The happy day in your life is the day you buy them AND the day you sell them!!!! Sold April 2009
Yes, phase I & II would be a must before you even buy a piece of property any more these days. Did your state have a tank fund to reimburse any of your costs? Missouri has PSTIF.
Here's one in Chattanooga that is a new construction made to look like a vintage station. http://www.cityscopemag.com/Chattanooga_CityScope_Business_Issue_ June_2008/Office_Space.aspx Pics I shot there...
I remembered to look for the picture. Found it. This is close to my Mom's house in American fork, Utah.
where is that? i swear i've driven past it a few times..... and for anyone interested... http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/pts/1276096640.html
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