Sisters Chevron closes

It was supposed to be a seamless transition.

The Sisters Chevron station on the corner of Cascade Avenue and Oak street was to close down at the end of July and reopen at the site of the new McDonald’s restaurant with no interruption.

But due to the arson fire that destroyed the restaurant and convenience store portion of the facility last month, the closed gas station has nowhere to go.

Randy Moss, Vice President of American Energy, who owned the station, told The Nugget that the station could not stay open until the projected November opening of the rebuilt restaurant, gas station and convenience store.

Moss said environmental work and tank removal needed to be done and “the buyer wanted to move forward and wasn’t flexible.”

Peter Storton of RE/MAX Town & Country Realty in Sisters handled the sale. He said the new owner of the property is Nick Veroske of Portland.

Storton said there are no firm plans for the property as yet, though some ideas have been kicked around.

“We have met with the city and talked about retail with some sort of living (space) upstairs,” Storton said.

The Chevron employees displaced by the shutdown are being transferred to other stations, Moss said. He also reported that Steve Rodgers, one of the developers of the McDonald’s, has offered some work opportunities.

Moss expressed disappointment that the coordinated plans for switching sites had been disrupted by the fire.

“The last thing we want to do is alienate Chevron customers in Sisters, ’cause we’ve been here forever,” he said.

Nicholas Patterson, 23, of Sisters was arrested for the arson fire that gutted the McDonald’s on July 10. The building hasd been torn down.