Overview

HunterMaclean’s convenience store and gas station group offers a diverse team of lawyers to tackle the broad range of issues this specific industry faces.

Our attorneys actively represent local, regional, and national developers, owners, and operators of convenience stores, gas stations, and travel centers within Georgia and South Carolina. Our multi-disciplinary team of lawyers brings together the benefit of many years of experience in the areas of real estate, finance, leasing, franchise, environmental, corporate, employment, corporate tax, real estate tax, zoning, land use, permitting, premises liability, and litigation. The lawyers within our convenience store and gas station specialty group are devoted to providing our clients with the skills and know-how required in all aspects of the purchase, financing, sale, development, and operation of their convenience stores, gas stations, and travel centers.

Trade Association Memberships:

  • Georgia Association of Convenience Stores
  • South Carolina Association of Convenience Stores

Experience

  • Counsel to national convenience store in the acquisition of twenty-two leasehold and real property sites across Georgia and South Carolina, including legal issues related to the assignment/transfer of environmental permits.
  • Counsel to regional convenience store in the re-zoning of development sites, site plan approval to allow for digital signage, halide lighting, as well as overall site development.
  • Counsel to local convenience store in litigation over client’s multi-million dollar store, which was condemned by the South Carolina Department of Transportation.
  • Counsel to local convenience store handling registration, permitting, remediation, and restoration matters related to underground storage tanks.
  • Counsel to owner of multiple sites leased by national convenience stores and travel centers.
  • Counsel to national lenders in commercial financing and sale-leasebacks across the United States involving gas stations and convenience stores.
  • Counsel to franchisees with regard to financing and franchise matters.
  • Counsel to national gas station regarding lawsuit in which a favorable determination was obtained in an FLSA case affirming that a former store manager was properly classified for wage/hour purposes and therefore exempt from overtime.
  • Counsel to regional and national gas stations handling litigation matters such as lease disputes, partnership disputes, and fuel distribution disputes.
  • Counsel to national gas station regarding lawsuit in which a favorable determination was obtained in a premises liability case involving the wrongful death of a patron.
  • Counsel to regional convenience store in the arbitration of construction disputes.
  • Counsel to regional convenience store in litigation involving loan requirements and insurance coverage.
  • Counsel to regional convenience store in the negotiation of fuel supply agreements.
  • A broad range of transactions, including: $100,000 to $35 million in convenience store and/or gas station real property, leasehold, asset, inventory and equipment acquisitions, dispositions and like kind exchanges; single property transactions to twenty-two site portfolios; multi-million dollar financing and sale-leaseback transactions; subject property locations include Georgia, South Carolina, as well as multi-state portfolios across the United States.

Publications & Presentations

Publications

Georgia’s New Gun Law and Convenience Store Safety

Georgia’s “Safe Carry Protection Act” went into effect July 1 of this year, expanding gun owners’ rights to carry their weapons openly and to defend themselves. This article explains how the Safe Carry Protection Act affects convenience store and gas station owners.

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Commercial Property Owners: Be Aware of Potential Environmental Liability

As government regulators have enacted increasingly stringent environmental regulations, commercial real estate owners are finding themselves vulnerable to greater environmental liability and related financial loss. It is important that business owners take a proactive approach to risk analysis and risk control when it comes to environmental concerns.

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An Overview of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC)

The federal New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program was established in 2000 by Congress to spur new or increased investments into operating businesses and real estate projects located in low-income communities. The program attracts investment in low-income communities by allowing individual and corporate investors to receive a tax credit against their federal income tax liability.

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Convenience Store and Gas Station Industry Group

Legal Challenges Facing C-store Businesses in 2013

Convenience store businesses of every size are greatly impacted by changes to state and federal law and other legal issues. From standalone stores to chains with retail locations nationwide, c-store owners benefit from keeping a close eye on the constantly changing legal landscape. The HunterMaclean Convenience Store and Gas Station Industry Group have compiled a list of legal challenges facing C-stores in 2013.

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