A last stop in the United States for Tucson residents traveling to the sandy beaches of Rocky Point has a new owner and operator.
The property - long held by a company called Gringo Pass Inc. - includes a gas station, grocery store, duty-free shop and post office. It's in Lukeville, just north of the international border on the west side of Arizona 85.
The sale price was $5 million, documents show. Lukeville Acquisitions Inc. was the buyer.
Gastrak, a Hollywood, Fla.-based company that runs gas stations and convenience stores along the border, is leasing the property from the new owner, said Israel Getzel, of Gastrak.
Some renovations are planned, but Getzel didn't go into details about the company's plans for the property. Gastrak has locations along the United States' southern border in Texas and California, and another along the Canadian border in Vanceboro, Maine, according to its website.
People are also reading…
Gastrak's new Arizona location sits south of Ajo on the route Tucsonans take to what they affectionately call "their" beach, Puerto Peñasco, or Rocky Point, on the Sea of Cortez.
Representatives of Gringo Pass Inc. weren't available to talk about their motivations for selling the property.
But Laurie Weber, the finance director for Larsen Baker, has some thoughts on the reasons. She owns a house in Cholla Bay near Rocky Point and has done real estate deals in the area, so she drives by the gas station on her frequent trips south.
Business owners in Rocky Point often use boxes at the Lukeville post office, she said.
Recently, however, as U.S. customs agents are checking vehicles going south for cash and guns, there can be a line of cars waiting to cross into Mexico.
In March 2009, federal officials began ratcheting up efforts to stem the flow of firearms moving south across the border, said Victor Brabble, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
Drivers faced with losing their place in line may have skipped stopping at the small Lukeville shopping center, and that may have cut into its business, said Weber. The grocery store there closed recently.
"It's a struggling little center," Weber said.
DID YOU KNOW?
The dusty hamlet of Lukeville got its name in honor of World War I flying ace Frank Luke (also the namesake of Luke Air Force Base), who was born and raised in the Ajo area. In 1996, Gringo Pass Inc.'s owner tried to get Lukeville's name officially changed to, wait for it, Gringo Pass. The idea didn't go over.
Source: Star archives
Contact reporter Dale Quinn at dquinn@azstarnet.com or 573-4197.