Historic Irving gas station site in Charlottetown poised to become EV charging hub

Documents posted on the City of Charlottetown's website in error contain wide-ranging details on a plan to have the heritage-designated Irving gas station on Euston Street donated to the city and turned into a fuelling spot for a very different generation of vehicles. 

The proposed net-zero project, called the Euston Street Irving ReEnergization Concept, has an initial price tag of $2,434,303, according to an estimate Coles Associates prepared for the city that's included among the 87 pages of documents. 

The white building with a rounded turret forming part of its brown roof at 83 Euston St. dates back to the 1920s. It was built when Irving Oil Ltd. was still a small regional company based in New Brunswick. 

It has been boarded up and roped off for years, following a brief stint as a car rental company in the years after the gasoline pumps were removed in 2008. 

But like a handful of other turreted Irving gas stations across the region built in the same era, the station escaped demolition due to its architectural and historic interest. 

Now the city hopes to receive $750,000 in funding from the province and $750,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to redevelop the site, as well as spending $750,000 of its own capital funds after the Irving group of companies donates the site. 

Plans call for the gas station building to become a community hub as well as "a kilowatt café" where EV drivers could relax after plugging their vehicles into high-speed chargers, with 31 solar panels providing electricity.

Those plans have been almost three years in the making behind closed doors, since an initial conversation between an Irving representative and the city's chief administrative officer on July 5, 2021, according to council documents posted online.

A draft agreement dated Feb. 29, 2024, outlines plans for the City of Charlottetown to accept the donation of the property in an "as-is, where-is" condition from Arcadia Sites Limited, an Irving-owned company based in Saint John.

The agreement was due to come into force on Thursday — May 29, 2024 — as long as the city signed off on it after having experts review the site, which it estimates is worth $1.25 million.

During a closed session of a special meeting held Tuesday night, councillors discussed the following motion: "That council authorizes the mayor and chief administration officer to waive the city's due diligence clause in the donation agreement with Arcadia Sites Limited, and proceed with further work in securing funding for the development concept." 

That motion and all the documents supporting it were not supposed to be released, though. 

"A City of Charlottetown council package containing information from a closed session held May 28, 2024 was mistakenly posted on the city's website outlining preliminary details regarding a redevelopment concept," a city spokesperson said in an email to CBC News on Wednesday. 

"As soon as the error was noted, the package was removed and all interested parties were notified. The city and its partners will continue to work towards finalizing this project and hope to make a joint announcement in the near future."