Gas prices have been fluctuating like crazy so far in 2022, but if you live in the heart of Toronto, there aren't many opportunities to see the changing price tickers outside of news reports.

That's because the city centre is now down to just a few remaining gas stations as dwindling locations are scooped up by condo developers.

Another one has bitten the dust with the closure of the (now former) Esso and Circle K gas station at 241 Church St., serving up gas to its last customer this week.

The station and attached convenience store (previously an Esso On The Run) at the northeast corner of Church and Dundas was sold to Couche-Tard for just $4.6 million back in 2016.

Just four years later, the value of the land had skyrocketed, as Graywood Developments reportedly paid a staggering $73 million for the land in October 2020. That's almost 16 times the price paid for the land in 2016.

Within just months of the purchase, the developer filed plans with the city, seeking to redevelop the site with a 53-storey condo tower.

June 2022 was a big month for the project, granted approval from the city and moving forward with permits to remove the gas station and convert it into a temporary sales centre for the new condo building.

The gas station and Circle-K location have since closed their doors for good, and the site is now surrounded by temporary fences as work begins for the gas station's decommissioning and convenience store's repurposing.

The closure represents one of the final gas stations in downtown Toronto, and undoubtedly the most central, located just a few blocks east of Yonge-Dundas Square.

Depending on your definition of downtown, there are only a handful of places left to fuel up in the heart of the city.

Going by the Bloor/Don River/Bathurst/Lake Ontario boundaries, there are eight left. If you expand that western border to Dufferin, the count goes up to 11.

Another nearby gas station closed at the northeast corner of Sherbourne and Front in January, also torn down in preparation for a high-rise condo development.