stp: Malt Shop, Citgo Bank-Bound

The Citgo station on the Southeast corner of Snelling and I-94, along with the yellow-awninged Malt Shop behind it, will be the site of a new Anchor Bank branch building, according to the Twin Cities Business Journal. The report:

The bank just acquired a prime piece of Interstate 94 frontage and will build a new office where The Malt Shop and a Citgo gas station operated for years near the Snelling Avenue interchange. Demolition of the two existing buildings begins immediately. Then, Wayzata-based Anchor Bancorp Inc. will erect a two-story, 15,000-square-foot building -- large enough to catch the eye of just about anyone traveling on I-94 or Snelling.

I was wondering why that Citgo station closed down, and I guess this is it. Bad location for a malt shop, and this piles on the fact that Liberty State Bank, which used to corner the banking market in this neighborhood, has been sold twice in the last five years.