Renovations are under way at 3555 Washtenaw as the new owner upgrades the former service station into a convenience store.

Paula Gardner | AnnArbor.com

The new owner of a closed gas station on Washtenaw Avenue in Ann Arbor plans to reopen under the Marathon brand by mid-summer after multiple building upgrades.

Mark Yaldo bought the former Washtenaw Mini Mart property located at 3555 Washtenaw in February, two months after it closed following a lender foreclosure.

Renovations to the property started early this month, with crews preparing to transform the former repair bays into a convenience store. Interior changes will include adding higher ceilings to the 1,450-square-foot retail space and decorating with University of Michigan-themed art.

The exterior, Yaldo said, will get a new brick façade to more closely resemble the Arborland stores located just to the east.

“We’re going to try to put a new face on the building,” Yaldo said. “… I’m going to be spending some money to make it look (good).”

Yaldo envisions operating a green fuel center, adding E-85 fuel to the traditional fuel lineup for drivers that use the ethanol-based product. He expects more “flex fuel” options to be added as new technologies reach the U.S. auto market.

The gas station industry has suffered in recent years, with this location among multiple local store closings resulting from the drop in national consumption. U.S. data estimated a 6.9 percent drop in consumption from 2007-2009; in Michigan, consumption fell 17 percent from 2004-2009.

Yaldo, who is based in Bloomfield Hills and owns five stations in Metro Detroit, says the market “in the last two years has been a disaster.”

But the pricing of the Washtenaw property - it sold for $350,000, compared to its assessed value of $585,400 - created an opportunity to start the new business with lower facility overhead, he said.

And the location on one of Ann Arbor’s busiest roads was appealing, too, he added. Yaldo’s previous businesses in Ann Arbor includes ownership of Falsetta’s Market at the corner of Washtenaw and Pittsfield Boulevard.

“Ann Arbor has not been impacted (by the economy) as much as the state,” Yaldo said.

Yaldo also has applied to the city to sell packaged beer and wine, seeking to be the first gas station in the city to do so.

City staff said the application is wending through multiple departments for approvals.

Paula Gardner is Business News Director of AnnArbor.com. Contact her at 734-623-2586 or by email. Sign up for the weekly Business Review newsletter, distributed every Thursday, here.