investment planned in the next five years By Mairi Mallon Esso Bermuda is planning to invest $8 million in a complete overhaul of three of its stations in the next two years.

And the Island could be set for more million dollar investments at other Esso pumps in the next five years.

The three sites which are up for either demolition and rebuilding or relocation are Collectors Hill, St. David's Island and Crawl Hill, but are all subject to Government approval.

All are planned with more parking, fast food, coffee and grocery sections and resemble the flag-ship Esso shop and gas station -- the Esso Automart on Par-la-Ville Road, Hamilton.

Esso has bought out the land at Collector's Hill and plans are being prepared for an in principle application for demolishing Collector's Hill which was built in the 1950s.

It includes proposals for building new tanks and rebuilding the station with a larger area inside and more parking out. The work will take an estimated five months.

The `in principle' plan for St. David's was submitted to planning in December.

It is much more radical and involves moving the station to the Kindley Field Road site near the roundabout. The old site will remain open only to serve the marina, while the new site will be built to serve St. David's backing up to the airport. If all goes to plan, the site will be on a long-term lease to Esso.

Esso Bermuda General Manager Ed Edleson said: "We looked at how the development at St. David's would affect the Esso station there and we found that the new road being built would mean that the road we are on would be a secondary road, which is not good for business.'' With the St. David's developers, who were concerned that there would not be a service station to serve their new residents' needs, they looked at new sites and came up with the Kindley Field location.

The plan for the new Crawl Hill gas station is the first that Esso would like to tackle. This building will also be demolished and a new and bigger shop built on site as well as new tanks underground.

"Crawl Hill is very much in need of renovation. What happens with a lot of the stations is that they were originally built as a garage,'' Mr. Edelson said. "But the market place has changed and people now go to specialist mechanics or dealers to get their car fixed. They expect different things from a garage.'' Last year Esso, an Exxon Corporation subsidiary which has been in Bermuda for 92 years, commissioned a review of its services on the Island, and found that upgrading was required across the Island. A plan was put forward and accepted by the shareholders to go ahead.

Also included in the upgrade is a $5 million renovation of the Esso pier in Ferry Reach which is also used by Shell.

"This includes extensive maintenance and upgrading to make it safe and more user friendly,'' said Mr. Edelson.

"What we are looking at in the service station side of things is uphill towards $8 million, including land purchase.

"If all goes well and subject to Government approval, we might see the end of 2001 with three new service stations.'' The work on each is expected to take five months, but the time could be extended if problems are found on the sites.

He added: "In the long term plan we have some other ideas for other sites, but I cannot say any more than that.

"We hope to have a clean, safe more consumer friendly environment with these proposed changes.

"Things have changed greatly in the 90 or so years we have been here. At first we were in the heating and lighting business, then electricity and then motorised vehicles grew up. Then the military took off, and then the demand for electricity grew. So we have to be ready for change.

"In order to make the business work, you have to do it safely, do it ethically and do it profitably. It can't be two out of three to make it work, it has to be all three with Esso. And that is what we are doing here with the upgrade, moving forward and in a professional manner.'' Ed Edelson Pumping it up: Esso's flagship gas station on Par-La-Ville Road. The company hopes to bring three other sites up to the same standard within the next two years.