Street next month -- the third time this year that it has committed substantial capital to a single service station redevelopment.

The Bermuda Industrial Union-owned station will close on Friday for three months, before reopening as a modernised filling station with a convenience store that Esso and the BIU said would be similar to the Esso City Automart on Richmond Road.

The work will cost Esso about $1 million.

It follows the planned re-opening this weekend of the St. George's Esso on Rose Hill, owned by Irvin Hayward. Esso provided a cash injection of less than $1 million there.

The company pumped yet another $1 million into the Port Royal Service Station, before it re-opened last summer.

Neither the BIU nor the Rose Hill Esso have so far committed themselves to daily hours of opening. It may be doubtful that either could sustain the 24-hour a day, seven day a week schedule that the Automart has settled on.

BIU president Derrick Burgess said: "The BIU Gas Station right now operates 7 p.m. to 12 midnight. We're not sure exactly what the hours will be when we re-open, but I think it's fair to say that we will extend our hours.

"Our gas has always been the cheapest in Bermuda. It's always been that way to give our members and customers the benefit. When we re-open, we expect to continue that policy.'' All three closures involved the replacement of Esso fuel tanks.

Esso general manager Keith Hollis said: "This is to strengthen our entire chain of gas stations throughout the Island.

"Esso has completed a replacement of the old steel fuel tanks that were put in many years ago, like at Rose Hill. We've put in double-walled fibreglass tanks with leak detection devices and double wall piping and a sensing device so if there is a leak we can sense it right away, rather than let it leak into the rock.

"We inaugurated the Port Royal station owned by the Terceira family in July this year. We have been associated with that family and that particular gas station from its inception in the 1950s.

"We want to get the St. George's station re-inaugurated, up and running before we start at the BIU. That will be a demolish and re-build. The building on that lot inhibits visibility and will be taken away. "Once a convenience store is put there and the tanks are replaced, that facility will be very similar to the one over on Richmond Road. We hope to get started there before Christmas and should be finished by February.'' Esso is putting in the capital at the Dundonald site in exchange for a long term supply agreement. After the work is completed, the BIU takes back control of a convenience store and service station that will be ready to operate.

Mr. Hollis said the fuel tank replacements are the most expensive part od the renovation.

Mr. Hayward, who has operated his gas station since 1955, added the extension to the building himself to provide room for the convenience store.

He said: "I've added another twelve hundred square feet of floor space. The station has been closed for about six weeks, and there are brand new tanks and new dispensers.

"We will be open for extended hours, but we haven't decided on exactly what those hours will be. We're confident that this will improve our business.

People coming by will be able to pick up a few things when they come in for their gas, or just when they are on their way home.

"Some of the equipment was delayed, but we're hoping it won't delay the opening. We were expecting to take delivery of a new cash register, which ties in with the pumps. But it has just been dropped on the docks and we won't have another one until the first of next month. So we will have to use an old one until that arrives.

"We've wanted to add the convenience store for the last 15 years. This was the opportunity to do it while the tanks and new dispensers were being put in.'' Derrick Burgess CASH INJECTION -- Esso Bermuda is investing in gas station improvements in return for long term supply contracts, says general manager Keith Hollis