The Cracker Barrel convenience store and gas station at the corner of Hollydale Avenue and Perkins Road might be permanently closed, but two gas tanks remain on the high-profile site.
That’s because of a dispute over who must remove the tanks, according to John C. Mangano Sr., whose J. Manoco LLC owns the Southdowns property. The dispute has reached an “impasse,” which—coupled with the fact that the store’s lease does not expire until March 31—is slowing efforts to sell the land.
Mangano tells Daily Report he sold the tanks to Cracker Barrel a decade ago. However, since Circle K acquired all 53 Cracker Barrel stores in Louisiana several years ago, Mangano believes Circle K now owns the tanks and must remove them—an assumption, he says, that’s been confirmed by attorneys who have consulted with Beau Box Commercial Real Estate, which is listing the property.
“I don’t want to pay to remove them,” says Mangano, who isn’t sure how much it would cost to do so. “I don’t want any liability on the tanks, either. Cracker Barrel assumed all liabilities on them.”
While Mangano says Circle K doesn’t want to remove the tanks either, officials with its parent company, Canada-based Alimentation Couche-Tard, could not be reached for comment before this afternoon’s deadline.
But Mangano, who worked for Shell Oil for 10 years, says he “can’t ever imagine or remember” when a major oil company didn’t remove its own equipment from a former site. Still, he doesn’t plan to file suit and says he hopes the matter can be informally resolved in the near future.
Otherwise, Mangano says Circle K continues to pay its rent and property taxes on time, and will continue making lease payments through March 31, by which date he expects a decision to be made regarding the tanks.
“I’m not in a big hurry,” Mangano says. “We haven’t gotten any firm offers here, anyway.”
The property doesn’t appear to be listed on the Louisiana Commercial Database. Brent Struthers of Beau Box Commercial Real Estate, who is handling the listing, did not respond to multiple requests for comment before this afternoon’s deadline.
