Former Gas Station Needs Revving Up [Empty in Riverside]

The former Edward's Auto Care Center, located at 11 Flanders Road, on the Riverside traffic circle, has been boarded up for months, one of many abandoned buildings on Route 24 that have residents calling for revitalization.

And now, Andrew Todd, of the Lynbrook-based Herbert Slepoy Corporation, said the approximately one-acre parcel is for rent -- and a number of callers have expressed possible interest in the property.

The parcel has been utilized for decades as a place for residents to fill up their tanks, Todd said, known to locals for years as the longtime Getty Gas Station.

Although the property is privately owned, Todd said, Getty has rented the parcel for years. Most recently, the parcel was leased to Edward's Auto Care Center, but when the environmental laws changed, the company found it too expensive to replace gas tanks to conform with new DEC standards and closed in January, 2011.

Taxes on the property, which is located in Southampton Town and zoned highway business, are approximately $19,000 per year, Todd said.