I write about, I think, some fairly weighty issues that deserve public attention. But, I have to say, nothing seems to attract attention like when I do a story about disappearing gas stations. I guess it speaks to people’s sense of how the city is changing.
At any rate, I did a story a while ago about Shell putting its gas station on Georgia, across from the Bayshore, on the block, a site that surely has to be attractive, as developers race to build designer-y new luxury towers there. (White Spot patrons next door, I would get those Monty mushroom burgers while you can, because I can’t imagine White Spot resisting the pressure for long.)
More recently, I did another story about Shell putting up another five stations for sale on the west side, all prime locations for low-rise apartment buildings, I would think.
Their site at Broadway and Alma, in particular, I can see becoming a new little hub on the west side. There is a development proposal for the mini-mall kitty-corner from there. (True Confections fans, get your hits in now.)
There’s a mini-mall backing onto that gas station (facing 10th). And Land Developments owns the empty lot on the southeast side of 10th and Alma, with development planned soon, I’m sure. Alma Village, here we come.
Those aren’t the only places to go. Small bank branches, mini-malls around the city are being eyed.
6 responses so far ↓
1 sthrendyle // Feb 7, 2017 at 10:58 am
Damn, I have to go to the Shell on Cap Road to get my AirMiles points… isn’t that station by the White Spot a Chevron (or is Chevron owned by Shell??). Now, I’d be all over busing down town regularly if they would change the off peak hours schedule to once every 20 minutes instead of once every HOUR.
2 Andrew Ferris // Feb 7, 2017 at 12:38 pm
The mini-plaza at Broadway and Oak is already gone though no gas stations were harmed in the process. Oh and it’s Chevron that has the gas stations up for sale. There’s a Chevron station on the SE corner of Broadway and Alma right now.
I would love to see the Alma end of Broadway build up to balance out the MacDonald end. Though getting the Safeway site at MacDonald re-done would be nice too.
3 Alex2000 // Feb 7, 2017 at 11:59 pm
Solution: Gas station ground floor, office above.. like so:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@35.1691828,136.9102029,3a,75y,36.76h,97.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1seaitSA-KwoePxu3S5a_dAQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en
4 Lysenko's Nemesis // Feb 9, 2017 at 9:10 am
Yes. I immediately thought about Japan too.
Paris too:
https://www.google.ca/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x47e66e21634be809:0x542c7330af4a5c79!2m19!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m13!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!3m1!7e115!4s//geo1.ggpht.com/cbk?panoid%3DL-cIzDNLMacrlxYTFJqM6A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.LOCAL_UNIVERSAL.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D520%26h%3D175%26yaw%3D2.237762%26pitch%3D2.23635%26thumbfov%3D100!5s+-+Google+Search&imagekey=!1e2!2sL-cIzDNLMacrlxYTFJqM6A
I have a suspicion that the City of Vancouver would not allow a development with a gas bar below.
Check it out Frances.
5 Alex2000 // Feb 9, 2017 at 12:10 pm
I suspect their first reaction would be dismissive, but once they realize they are everywhere in Asia and totally normal the idea wouldn’t be so easy to dismiss.
6 A Taxpayer // Feb 9, 2017 at 5:04 pm
Just like Uber?