Commercial broker Mark Hulsey has no illusions about Highland Station, the four-bay service station, micro-convenience store and car wash he’s attempting to market for sale at the corner of Snelling and Randolph avenues.
Snelling Avenue is a state highway that draws high traffic counts. Randolph Avenue runs through the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood, one of St. Paul’s higher-end communities. Highland Station sits on more than a half-acre of land. Combined, those assets would make 485 Snelling Ave. S. a ripe target for a developer with plans for a five-story apartment building over underground parking, if this were 2019.
But the year is 2025, and between current development costs and slowing demographic projections for St. Paul, that’s not going to happen. Hulsey, 62, who has been marketing properties throughout the Midwest since the early 1980s, imagines a future owner-operator will come calling, or the owner of multiple gas stations may want to add one more to their portfolio.
“Five or six years ago, it would have been more prime for redevelopment, just because the redevelopment market right now is not terribly strong,” Hulsey said. “The cost of labor, materials, interest rates has really put the kibosh on a lot of development opportunities.”
Still, “it’s a heck of an important corner for St. Paul,” said Hulsey, who handled a phone interview Thursday on behalf of his son Hayden Hulsey, whose partner was in labor.
The asking price for Highland Station, which was built in 1964, is $1.7 million on the open market. That it’s being marketed openly is a bit out of the ordinary for a service station.
“I don’t want to call it rare,” Hulsey said. “They trade behind the scenes. Here we have an owner-operator who has done his time at multiple stations and is going to retire.”
Owned by Sean Kriger and Krigers, Inc., the property last sold in 2003 for just under $756,000.
Related Articles
St. Paul Sun Ray Shopping Center to welcome new retailer as other strip malls struggle
St. Paul: Permit, license applications now available online
Midway YMCA renamed after Best Buy founder Richard Schulze
Mayor wants 5.3 percent increase to St. Paul tax levy
St. Paul: Nicolle Newton, director of Planning and Economic Development, steps down
Leave a Reply