PORTLAND, Maine -- At the end of June Tranzon Auction Properties will be auctioning off 16 gas station and convenience store locations formerly owned by C.K. Smith & Co. Inc., 15 in Massachusetts and 1 in New Hampshire. The locations stretch from Milford in southern New Hampshire to Westport, Mass., Mike Carey, vice president of Tranzon Auction Properties, Portland, Maine, told CSP Daily News.
Tranzon was hired by TD Bank, Portland, to conduct a foreclosure auction, he said. Former owner, Worcester, Mass.-based C.K. Smith, decided to close its retail gas [image-nocss] stations as part of a strategy to exit the gasoline business, the company said in early February. The closure of its 23 locations did not affect the company's heating oil and propane services business in central Massachusetts.
The stations were mostly supplied by Portsmouth, N.H.-based Irving Oil. C.K. Smith chose to exit retail "due to financial difficulties," Liza Dube, Irving Oil's public relations and community affairs manager, told CSP Daily News at the time.
(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of C.K. Smith.)
Some of the properties are full convenience stores with room for tenants, some of them are simple pad/kiosk type locations designed to sell only gasoline.
The condition of the sites varies, said Carey. "There are some prime locations and some secondary locations."
The locations mostly stopped selling gasoline in January, he said. They had been branded Irving and United. "The stores are all nonfunctional from a gas basis at this point; they have been shut down. There are some smaller tenants on themservice stations, smaller franchises like Honey Dew donuts, coffee shops that are still in operation, but from a gas standpoint, they have all been shut down."
No fuel contracts are being sold with the sites, Carey added.
The onsite auction dates are June 21, 22, 24, 28 and 29. To see a complete list of what's available, interested parties can visitwww.cstoreauction.com to find links to property information packages for each property, a schedule of the auctions and a map of the locations.
These locations will be sold as-is where is, Tranzon said, which said it does not have access to income, operating expenses or gallons pumped, although it does have some traffic estimates.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.