QuikTrip buys Denver property despite gas station restrictions

A gas station chain has bought land in north Denver where a gas station can’t be built.

QuikTrip, which is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, paid $3 million for the 1.37-acre lot at 1595 W. 48th Ave., according to public records.

The site is at the Interstate 70-Pecos Street interchange, which would normally make it a natural buy for a gas station operator. But it’s also just down the street from a 7-Eleven that has pumps. And a year ago this month, Denver passed a measure that prevents new gas stations from being built within a quarter-mile of an existing one.

QuikTrip was the company most affected by Denver’s measure. The chain announced its intent to enter the Denver market in 2019 and has been opening gas stations locally ever since.

It had four locations in the works that were seemingly scuttled by last year’s gas station restrictions, which also bar new gas stations within a quarter-mile of rail platforms and within 300 feet of certain residential zones.

One of those four planned stations was at 48th and Pecos, which is currently home to a check-cashing business and a liquor store. A Family Dollar that operated at the site for decades has closed.

The property’s now-former owner, Evangeline Pappas, told city leaders before last year’s vote that the proposed restrictions would be “catastrophic” to her.

“As a part of my negotiations, I am to sell my property with as little lease term in place and will lose my largest tenant because of that,” Pappas wrote to the city last year. “If this ordinance passes, not only will you cause my Buyer and my expected retirement to go away, my largest income producing tenant will be vacating.”

QuikTrip’s decision to purchase the property could reflect confidence in its legal team.

Last March, QuikTrip and Pappas sued Denver over the new restrictions. A Denver District judge threw out the case in July, but QuikTrip has appealed that decision.