Wawa has backed away from developing a store and gas station in Penndel and is now eyeing a site down the road in Middletown.
Developer Tom Verrichia has worked for the past several years to bring a Wawa with gas pumps and a 14,700-square-foot retail store to the site at Bellevue Avenue and West Lincoln Highway. The property where the Wawa was proposed also is bordered by Durham Road and Legrande, Bellevue, and Park avenues.
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Penndel Borough Council President Beverly Wolfe told LevittownNow.com that Verrichia’s Doylestown-based development firm sent a letter to officials recently noting that Wawa had backed away from the site. Verrichia’s letter thanked the borough for working with him to develop the site and noted he will reconfigure plans to develop the property without Wawa.
Wawa is now moving forward with plans to build their convenience store and gas station at the 1.8-acre former Paul Burn Auto Center at 639 East Lincoln Highway, Middletown Director of Zoning and Building Pat Duffy confirmed.
The new location Wawa is looking to develop through Pinegood Middletown LLC is about half-a-mile from the Penndel site and closer to I-295. It will also sit less than a mile from a Wawa store on Trenton Road and 2 miles from a store and gas station on Oxford Valley Road, both in Middletown.
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The Wawa plans first public appearance will be before the Middletown Zoning Hearing Board next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Middletown Municipal Building. The developers will ask for variances, including for landscaping, front yard setback, buffer areas, and signage.
Duffy said if Wawa moves forward with their plan, they will eventually have to request a waiver to operate a gas station at the commercial site.
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While Wolfe said Wawa is backing away from Penndel, it was not for a lack of trying by Verrichia and borough officials.
“We pulled all the stops to get them,” she said. “There’s no ill will.”
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Verrichia wrote in his letter that PennDOT-related issues became a roadblock for the development.
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The Penndel 3-acre site where Wawa and the retail store were planned is made up of a number of different parcels that are owned by various entities. One of those sites includes the long-vacant PECO building.
Verrichia told the Bucks County Courier Times in 2017 that there were sale agreements for six of the seven parcel owners.
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