"Certainly there's room for another gas station in town," Lennie said this week.

Lennie's Arctic Esso closed in August after temporary facilities being used while his business arranged a move to another site were closed by the fire marshal, who said the businesses' temporary tanks presented a fire hazard. The facilities being built on Distributor Street are also intended to be temporary quarters for the station for the winter months. Permanent tanks and buildings will be put in this summer after the ground thaws and makes it possible to run underground pipes, he said.

The station will offer 24-hour self-serve gas through cardlock devices, which lets drivers prepay at the pumps with a credit card, he said.

"That's something new for this town, and since people are running 24 hours a day here, it will solve the problem of worrying where you're going to buy gas at midnight or 3 a.m."

The station will create three full-time jobs when it opens, he said.