Boarded-up Huntington-area gas station up for sale

The Sunoco station on Richmond Highway near the intersection of Huntington Avenue is being sold in a sealed-bid auction.

A long-shuttered gas station on Route 1 near the intersection of Huntington Avenue is up for sale.

The former Sunoco station, located at 5928 Richmond Highway, is part of a “sealed bid” auction being run by NRC Realty and Capital Advisors. According to the NRC website, they are auctioning of 64 convenience stores with gas and 35 vacant properties for Sunoco across 15 states. The sales are part of a larger real estate divestment by Sunoco, according to the Motley Fool. 

The deadline for bids is April 4. A phone call seeking more information from NRC was not immediately returned. 

The dilapidated station was built in 1973 and sits on a nearly 28,000 square foot lot on an island of land along with a SunTrust bank and the Budget Host Travelers Motel. Developers have shown interest in purchasing all three plots and combining them into one, according to a source with knowledge of the property. 

The station has long been an eyesore for residents and commuters entering the county from Alexandria on Route 1. It has not been used as a service station since 2003, when the land was purchased by the state and used as a staging ground for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project. The state sold the property back to Sunoco in 2011 for $1 million, according to county property records.  

Sunoco had planned to reopen the location as a convenience store and six-pump service station, but ran into difficulties with zoning, according to the Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation. After that fell through there had been rumblings that the site would become a car title lender, which was strongly opposed by community members.