The infamous RaceTrac that was shut down this past spring is under new ownership, and its new owner plans to turn the building not into a grocery store, or a parking deck, but another gas station.
Last February, the RaceTrac at 120 Piedmont Ave closed its doors for good after a string of shootings and other crimes led to students in the area feeling unsafe. The gas station was open for four years, where it saw reports of 31 charges of assaults, two murders and 13 charges of larceny according to the city’s crime data reports.
Since its closure, the area has been noticeably quieter, with GSUPD reporting a decrease in crime in the space.
“The change has been noticeable,” said K’lynn Jackman, a second-year student who lives at University Commons across the street from the RaceTrac. “The area feels emptier, and it feels like there’s less foot traffic on that part of campus”.
However, that emptiness is set to not last much longer. The land for the gas station has now been bought out, and last July a businessman named Baktari Lakhari applied to the city to open up a new gas station right where the old RaceTrac stood.
Lakhari is a new businessman in the downtown area who has managed three gas stations previously. On top of his new business application, he has also filed for a liquor license to sell alcohol at the new gas station.
City officials have expressed their intention to collaborate with Lakhari to ensure safety in the area. Councilwoman and Georgia State alumni Liliana Bakhtiari spoke with reporters from 11 Alive about their hopes for the partnership.
“We are looking for a partner who is going to be responsive and at the table with us to seek how we improve to make sure we don’t have incidents like this recurring,” said Bakhtiari. “We told them we need you to tow cars that are loitering on your property. The owner understandably asked APD to actually enforce that.”
The news of the gas station’s reopening isn’t exactly good news for a lot of Georgia State students, with some students saying that they’re banding together to write a letter demanding that the Atlanta City Council stop the new applicant from moving forward.
Many saw RaceTrac’s closure as an opportunity to welcome a new business to the space that would benefit students living on campus. One of the most common suggestions for the area was for it to become a resource for students in need of groceries.
“I wish they could turn the space into something useful for students. Maybe a study area, or a cafe. We don’t have a lot of convenient options nearby for essentials so that would really benefit people living on or near campus” said Jackman.
“It would be amazing if the RaceTrac got turned into some sort of grocery store or food market. There are no grocery stores within walking distance of campus” shared Charlie Lucas, a second-year student living on campus this year.
With the gas station being reopened, students fear that the issues with crime that plagued the area last semester could possibly come back.
“I think that by turning the RaceTrac into another gas station we’re just repeating the pattern that made it dangerous in the first place. It was dangerous as a shell gas station, it was dangerous as a RaceTrac, and it will be dangerous as a different gas station” said Lucas. “There is no amount of security that will make it less dangerous, the fact that it’s a late-night gas station is why it’s dangerous”.
Since the announcement of the new business, members of the Atlanta City Council have been meeting and working with university leaders and GSUPD to discuss how to curb the issues that arose from the location’s previous tenants. No information on an opening date for the new gas station has been released.
