New life for gas station?

LILY LAKE –  It is not clear yet when it will reopen. But the owners of a shuttered service station at a busy intersection in central Kane County are pushing for their property to soon spring back to life.

"We are not happy with what's been going on there," said George Sweeney, president of Stickney-based Bell Fuels. "And we want to see things move forward."

Last October, the Marathon service station at the corner of Routes 47 and 64 closed.

The property has been owned by Bell Fuels for more than a decade.

Bell first leased to the Clark Oil Co. But the lease has since been transferred to petroleum corporation Valero Energy. That lease will continue for at least eight more years, said Sweeney.

In turn, Valero sublet the station to operator Sumaer Petroleum and Bickram Singh of Algonquin.

Sumaer Petroleum abruptly closed the station in the fall of 2008, when Sumaer was evicted.

In the months since, however, the station has remained closed, and the property has begun to fall into disrepair, Sweeney said.

The station has also served as a subject of rumor around the region, as local residents and neighboring property owners have wondered what would become of the station.

Representatives of Kane County and the village of Lily Lake said the owners of the station have not contacted them about what might become of the station.

"We've heard all kinds of things about what might happen there," Lily Lake Village Clerk Heather Gavlin said.

And Sweeney said his company is also curious to know Valero's plans for the station.

That curiosity led Bell Fuels to convene a meeting recently with representatives of Valero to discuss the future of the site.

And at that meeting, Sweeney said Bell urged Valero to craft a plan to repair the station soon and ultimately to find a new tenant to reopen the station.

"We don't want our name associated with a property that is in a condition like that," Sweeney said.

Bill Day, a spokesman for Valero, said his company is "working on a couple of options" for the property. But he said the company could not discuss specific plans for the property at this time.

Sweeney said he expects Valero to return with a plan for the property within the next two months.

"We anticipate getting information on what they intend to do with the property," Sweeney said. "And we expect that people will see a marked improvement at the site soon."