“This was a longer-term economic development play for the community as we continue to revitalize and redevelop downtown,” City Manager Bryan Heck said at last Tuesday’s regular city commission meeting.
Wawa, headquartered in Pennsylvania, is a convenience store and gas station chain known for its made-to-order food like hoagies, breakfast sandwiches, burgers, fries and soups, as well as coffee and a variety of hot, iced and frozen specialty drinks.
The chain has more than 1,100 locations and opened its first Ohio store last month in Butler County.
The stores originally did not include gas stations, and started opening new stores with fuel offerings in 1996. Wawa locations offer surcharge-free ATMs.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Stores in Fairfield, Colerain Twp., Deerfield Twp., Huber Heights, Lebanon, Mason, Springdale and Union Twp. are all slated to open before the end of the year as part of the Pennsylvania-based company’s expansion into Ohio.
The proposed Springfield store would include eight two-sided fuel stations and include infrastructure for charging stations, Heck said.
The Executive Inn abruptly shuttered as a homeless shelter in August, after city council declined to renew an operation contract with Dayton nonprofit Homefull. The resolution that the commission rejected would have approved up to $1.05 million to Homefull for one year, with the option to renew for three more one-year periods.
Opponents expressed concerns about the cost of services, though the funds would have come from a federal source.
Since then, the site has sat empty.
Heck said Tuesday’s approval moves the process to the “due diligence period,” and from there the developers will move to close on the property.
According to the agreement, developers have 120 days from approval to inspect the property and perform studies to determine if it is suitable for the gas station. The closing date would be within 30 days of the inspection period.
The property is adjacent to a Wendy’s, Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken and the NPRD Chiller ice rink. Mercy Health’s Springfield campus sits across the street.
Wawa representatives did not return a request for comment by the time of publication.
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