The closed Mobil Station site on Friend Street in Boston’s Bulfinch Triangle could become the site of a new office building.
The shuttering of the Mobil Station near Boston City Hall could boost one developer’s holdings in the Bulfinch Triangle. But with the financial markets in turmoil, the company is in no rush to buy.
Last month, Exxon Mobil Corp. said it is getting out of the U.S. retail gasoline market.
The world’s largest publicly-traded oil company is selling its 820 gas stations. Included in the number of stations already closed is 150-158 Friend St., across the street from the Government Center Garage.
Rosalind E. Gorin, president of HN Gorin, a real estate investment and development company that owns four parking lots on Friend Street totaling about 15,000 square feet of space, said she is not negotiating with Mobil to buy the small property. But Gorin said her firm is the logical buyer.
“I don’t know who else Mobil would sell it to since it can’t be developed on its own because it’s too small,” Gorin said. “We are the only potential buyer, but we’re not in a hurry. We don’t think this is a great time to start a new project.”
Still, Gorin said she plans to build a 10-story office building on the parcels her firm owns, possibly including the triangular Mobil site when the financial markets improve.
“Everyone is very cautious now, there’s not much liquidity around and the economy is being squeezed,” she said. “As a result, lenders are very cautious. You can’t get good financing for speculative development right now. If you could get financed, you’ll pay a premium and put much more equity than you would under normal circumstances.”
In Boston, projects including the South Station tower, Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s 1,000-foot skyscraper in Winthrop Square and Columbus Center are struggling to get financed.
Gorin declined to put a start date for the office building project.
“The financing market is one of the keys to the development business,” she said. “I don’t know when this will turn around. If you can tell me when the Federal Reserve will act in a way that will provide liquidity to our economy, I’ll tell you when people will build again, because the two are linked.”
