DAYTONA BEACH — The development surge along LPGA Boulevard that’s expected to significantly increase traffic has already caused a delay of a different sort.
The start of construction of the planned Buc-ee’s convenience store/gas station.
When plans for the mega 120-gas pump station and supermarket-sized “convenience travel center” were first announced last April, construction was expected to start by year’s end, at least according to local observer John Albright, president and CEO of Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co., which agreed to sell the 35-acre site to the Lake Jackson, Texas-based Buc-ee’s chain.
Site work now appears on track to begin late this spring, according to Parker Mynchenberg, the project’s civil engineer who is also overseeing landscaping. He added that construction should start shortly after that.
“We got our stormwater and (Department of Transportation) permits, but the zoning is taking a little bit longer because we had to do traffic studies,” said Mynchenberg. “With the combination of projects out there (along LPGA Boulevard), it has a higher level of scrutiny.”
Mynchenberg said his “best guess” is that Buc-ee’s will open in about 18 months, which would put it at summer 2019.
Site plans submitted to the city call for the Buc-ee’s to have a 53,254-square-foot store. To put that in perspective, that’s equivalent in size to the nearest grocery store (the 47,814-square-foot Publix at Ormond Towne Square at Williamson and Granada boulevards) plus two average-sized convenience stores.
Also planned are five outparcels where smaller standalone retail buildings could be built for other tenants.