Gate Petroleum - History

History

Herbert Hill Peyton started the company in 1960 with a single gas station on Jacksonville's Northside. The company grew during the 1960s with additional stations in the southeast United States. The name "Gate" comes from the city of Jacksonville's slogan, "The Gateway to Florida". In response to the 1973 oil crisis, the company began to diversify and added convenience items to their filling station shelves.

• The first alternative investment was a 500-acre (2.0 km2) farm in nearby Hastings, Florida that grew potatoes. Overall, it was a profitable investment, but the asset was eventually sold.

• Gate Roofing Company was created during 1978 in Green Cove Springs, Florida to manufacture asphalt felt. The business was very successful and the plant was expanded and operated 24/7 before being sold to TAMKO Building Products in 1994.

• In the early 1980s, Peyton transformed the company from a petroleum retailer to a diversified conglomerate. He bought the Florida real estate holdings of Stockton, Whatley, Davin & Co., which was then owned by Phillips Petroleum Company for $60 million. The purchase contained more than 16,000 acres (65 km2) of land in northeast Florida including the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, parcels at Ponte Vedra Beach, Deerwood Country Club, Southpoint and the Guana tract.
  • The first property to be sold was the 8,000 acres (32 km2) of primitive woodlands on the Guana River. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection purchased the property for $49 million that became the Guana River State Park.
  • The initial segment of J. Turner Butler Boulevard (Florida State Road 202) was completed in 1979 and access to the Southpoint area was improved, facilitating development of the area east of Interstate 95. Gate partnered with the Bryant Skinner Company in 1980 to create the 250-acre (1.0 km2) Southpoint office park.

• When manufacturer Houdaille-Duval decided to eliminate their Florida construction division in 1980, Gate purchased a Jacksonville prestressed concrete plant and five asphalt plants for $10 million. The asphalt plants were sold a year later for a significant profit. Gate then offered $1 million for Houdaille-Duval's prestressed concrete plant in Houston, which was worth twice that amount. H-D accepted the offer, and both concrete plants are still Gate Concrete assets.

• Epping Forest, the 58-acre (230,000 m2) former estate of Alfred I. du Pont, was acquired from Raymond K. Mason in 1984 for $8 million. At the time, Mason was Chairman of the Charter Company, which was facing bankruptcy.

• Westinghouse Electric Company, who jointly developed the east side of Blount Island with Tenneco in the early 1970s at a cost of $125 million in the failed Offshore Power Systems venture, sold the property to Gate for $17 million in 1985. In November 1990, the property's 20-year old crane, once the world's largest, was sold to the China State Shipbuilding Corporation for $3 million. It was dismantled and shipped overseas.

• Gate purchased 28 7-Eleven convenience stores in Jacksonville and Alachua county in 1990, along with a noncompete agreement for 20 years.

• The Gulf Life Tower, one of Jacksonville's tallest buildings, was on the market for nearly three years with an asking price of $30 million. Gate purchased it from American General Insurance (now American International Group) in 1993 for less than $10 million, spent several million dollars to renovate it, and renamed it Riverplace Tower.

• In February 2008, Gate acquired 150 West Main Street, a 20-story office building in Norfolk, Virginia.

Filling stations and convenience stores are still the core business of the company, which operates from a 57,000 sq ft (5,300 m2) corporate headquarters in Mandarin. The Peyton family owns 80% of the company, and the rest belongs to "Brothers": long-term employees (both male and female).

John Peyton, the oldest son of company founder Herb Peyton, took an eight-year leave from Gate to serve two terms as Jacksonville's mayor from 2003 to 2011. John returned to the family business and was named company President when his father, Herb retired on January 3, 2012. Herb remained Chairman and Mitchell Rhodes was promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Hill Peyton became Vice President of Marketing. In Jacksonville, Gate is Northeast Florida's 16th-largest private sector employer.