Apr 27, 2016 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Sheetz Inc. is developing plans to construct two stores within about two miles of each other on Route 21 in Franklin Township.

The company plans to build a store on Route 21 at Murtha Drive, across from the airport, and will construct another store to replace its existing store on Route 21 at Jefferson Road, said David P. Hazelet, Sheetz’s director of real estate.

“Both of them are now in the very beginning stages,” Hazelet said. Both of the new stores will be bigger than the existing store at Jefferson Road and will include inside and outside dining areas, he said.

The new Sheetz at Jefferson Road, which also is expected to include a car wash, will be expanded onto property behind the existing store now occupied by Central Plaza, which will be razed. The businesses in that shopping center, including Yum Yum Diner and Donuts, will be forced to relocate.

Hazelet said Sheetz agreed to long-term leases with the property owners for both locations and projects are now in the engineering design stages. Once engineering work is completed, the company will submit plans to the township for required local approvals, he said.

The company hopes to be ready to begin construction on the store near Murtha Drive next spring, possibly in March, Hazelet said.

The new store at Jefferson Road will be a little more complicated because the company plans to keep the existing store open while it builds the new store behind it, Hazelet said. The company expects to begin construction on that project some time next year, he said.

Several small businesses are housed at Central Plaza, which is owned by Headlee Partnership located on Route 21 next to the current Sheetz.

Annette Phillips, owner of Yum Yum Tasty Diner and Donuts, said she was told she would have to move several months ago, though she heard the project was a possibility when she bought the business last April.

“I have several different options to lease a building, but my goal is to own my own building,” she said. The restaurant has until next May to find a new location.

“I’m definitely not going to go out of business,” Phillips said. “I’ll find property somewhere.”

Hazelet said the company was has no problem with having two stores so close together on Route 21. The existing store at Jefferson Road now serves a “high volume” of customers, he said.

The new store at Murtha Drive, which is closer to Interstate 79, will attract local customer but also is expected to draw business form interstate traffic, he said.

Steve Coss, Franklin Township code enforcement officer, said the township has had discussions with Sheetz and the state Department of transportation regarding the projects.

Sheetz, based in Altoona, operates more than 500 stores in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina. It has one other store in Greene County on Route 88 at the Paisley intersection in Cumberland Township. The company also has prepared plans to expand that store.