GPM Disposition PortfolioLocation Intelligence & Lease Summary
GPM Disposition PortfolioLocation Intelligence & Lease Summary
2015 Tynecastle Hwy, Banner Elk, NC
| Tenant / d/b/a | Scotchman |
| Guarantor | Fas Mart (GPM Investments) |
| Lease commencement | Mar 27, 2008 |
| Lease expiration | Mar 31, 2028 |
| Remaining term | 1.8 yrs |
| Lease term (months) | — |
| Annual base rent | $123,233 |
| Base rent $/SF | $27.95 |
| Rent at expiration | — |
| Expiration rent $/SF | — |
| Renewal options | 1/2 |
| Notice date | Sep 04, 2027 |
| Year built | 1990 |
| Building SF | 4,409 |
| Land area (acres) | 0.95 |
| Pre G&A CFC | 2.48x (2024) |
| Lease status | Active |
Banner Elk is one of the South's premier ski-resort towns — within ~10 minutes of Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain (the two largest ski areas in the Southeast) and host of the Wooly Worm Festival (20,000+ visitors). Seasonal destination demand is not captured by resident metrics (the town has ~1,000 residents).
The location score above reflects resident-market real-estate fundamentals and does not incorporate seasonal or destination demand; consider this note alongside the store-level coverage (CFC) when assessing the asset.
| Metric | 1 mi | 3 mi | 5 mi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 0 | 0 | 11,816 |
| Households | 0 | 0 | 4,959 |
| Pop. density (/sq mi) | 0 | 0 | 150 |
| Avg HH income | — | — | $81,313 |
| Poverty rate | — | — | 11.2% |
| Bachelor's+ | — | — | 31.7% |
| Median home value | — | — | $266,771 |
| Median rent | — | — | $827 |
| Median age | — | — | 46 |
| Owner-occupied | — | — | 76.3% |
This Scotchman-branded convenience store and gas station in Banner Elk, NC carries a location grade of 30 out of 100, reflecting a rural, low-traffic setting with negligible immediate-area population. The site offers 1.8 years of remaining lease term backed by GPM Investments, a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed ARKO Corp., providing near-term bond-like income with meaningful rollover risk on the horizon.
The 1-mile and 3-mile trade areas register zero recorded population, indicating the site sits in an extremely sparse rural corridor with no measurable residential density nearby. Usable demographic data only emerges at 5 miles, where 11,816 residents average $81,313 in household income against an 11.2% poverty rate, a thin and modest consumer base for a fuel and convenience operator.
Avery County is a nonmetro, non-adjacent rural county with a population that has been effectively flat from 2020 to 2024 at roughly 17,800 residents. The county unemployment rate of 5.6% and a total employment base of just 5,277 across 531 establishments signal a structurally small, slow-growth local economy with limited organic demand drivers.
Site-level traffic of only 300 AADT is extremely low by any gas station underwriting standard, and the Walk Score of 35 confirms deep car dependency with minimal pedestrian or ambient demand. Daytime employment within 1 mile totals 341 workers, providing only a modest captive customer pool to support fuel and convenience volumes.
The property sits in FEMA Flood Zone X, meaning minimal flood exposure, which is a straightforward positive for physical asset risk. No additional state-level crime data was available for independent assessment, though the rural character of the location generally correlates with lower crime incidence.
With only 1.8 years remaining on the lease at $123,233 in annual base rent, a buyer is essentially acquiring a short-duration income stream with a hard rollover decision arriving by March 2028. The lease includes one of two available renewal options, with notice required by September 2027, meaning the renewal clock begins almost immediately post-acquisition. GPM Investments as guarantor, backed by ARKO Corp.'s scale of approximately 3,500 sites across 34 states, provides credible institutional credit, but ARKO has faced margin pressure publicly and the weak location metrics may discourage renewal at current or higher rent. Buyers should underwrite to a vacancy or re-tenanting scenario given the site's thin traffic and population fundamentals.
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