A former MLT gas station could become a mixed-use building with businesses and homes

Two parcels of land in Mountlake Terrace, at 24205 and 24225 56th Avenues West, could be redeveloped to include residences and businesses.

Bellevue-based JYK Holdings, LLC (JYKH) intends to purchase, clean up and redevelop a former gas station located next to the Getaway Tavern. The properties are owned by the Seattle-based Time Oil Company (TOC).

The Washington State Department of Ecology is negotiating a legal agreement called a Prospective Purchaser Consent Decree (PPCD) with JYKH for the land.

The cleanup site includes portions of three connected parcels: 24205 56th Ave. W., the source property, and the adjoining property at 24225 56th Ave. W., plus 24309 56th Ave. W. and a portion of the 54th Avenue West right-of-way.

Scarlet Tang, a Washington State Department of Ecology communications manager, said that the former filling station is to become a mixed-use building that will feature residential and business space.

Tang said that all cleanup sites are unique and involve many variables, such as the source, type and extent of contamination. The topography, risks to human health and the environment, and future land use must also be considered. The station’s fuel tanks were removed several years ago, and the contaminants found are common to gas station sites.

“Ecology is accustomed to cleaning up this type of site, and there are proven techniques for dealing with the petroleum by-products found here,” Tang said.

A previous recovery effort used multi-phase extraction systems, which Tang said helped clean up contaminated water and soil without removing the material from the site.

“Those systems were effective, so the core of the current cleanup plan will rely on updating and expanding [the systems],” Tang said.

The Ecology Department typically finds cleanups easiest when there is only one contaminated material. Tang explained that when more media, such as groundwater or sediment, are contaminated, more methods and technologies are required to complete the work.

“Also, the combination of different types of contamination can complicate the cleanup,” Tang said.

According to a 2006 article by CSP, a retail industry news publication, Time Oil Company started selling and distributing gas and oil to exploration outfits and oil production and refining companies in the early 1940s. It eventually expanded to 104 gas stations in Washington, Oregon and Nevada and owned a 50% share in U.S. Oil and Refining Co.

In 2001, TOC ceased operating its Seattle terminal, and the land became a residential development in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood. In 2006, it sold the U.S. Oil and Refining Co. Tacoma refinery to Astra Oil.

According to Snohomish County Assessor’s Office data, TOC had been delinquent in property tax payments for 24205 and 24225 56th Avenues West since 2017, when the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy — the liquidation of assets. It started paying installments in 2025.

The Ecology Department will oversee the site’s cleanup and invites the public to review and comment on its website.

— By Rick Sinnett