In late March, Delaware City Council approved Skilken Gold Real Estate Development’s proposal for the city’s first Sheetz location to be built at 700 Sunbury Road, formerly home to Delaware Marine. As of Wednesday’s Delaware Planning Commission meeting, it would appear Skilken isn’t stopping at just one location in Delaware.
A Combined Preliminary and Final Development Plan for a second Sheetz location at Coughlin’s Crossing was approved by commission members during Wednesday’s meeting, sending the proposal to council for final approval.
Proposed is an approximate 6,070-square-foot gas station and restaurant to be constructed on 1.88 acres in the mixed-use development on Delaware’s south side. The Sheetz location would exist just south of the newly-constructed Penny Way, in Subarea 6 of the development, which lines east of U.S. Route 23 (Columbus Pike) across from the Delaware Community Plaza.
Like the first location that will soon be constructed on Sunbury Road, the facility in Coughlin’s Crossing will have four fuel islands with a total of eight pumps. Inside, customers will find a convenience store that offers the standard snack and drink options, as well as a restaurant that features a wide variety of made-to-order fast food options for indoor dining.
During previous council meetings held to discuss the first location, Skilken Gold President of Development Frank Petruziello did his best to dispel any preconceived notions that Sheetz is just another gas station.
“We get a little upset when we are referred to as a fuel station,” Petruziello told council in March. “Not because we don’t sell fuel, we certainly do. But so does Kroger and so does Walmart … We have come from the food industry, we have come from selling groceries, and have come from the restaurant business. We’ve added fuel as a service to our customers, just like Kroger and others have added fuel (stations).”
The Sheetz menu is wide-ranging, containing anything from burgers to pizza, subs, Mexican food, and plenty of other entrees. Customers utilize touch screens to customize their orders and then present their ticket to the register to pay and submit their order. Once their order is ready, customers can either sit in the restaurant to eat or take their food to go. While the east side location’s restaurant is designed to include a drive-thru, there is no drive-thru proposed for the second location.
The gas station and restaurant would have two access points; a right-in only entrance off of Penny Way and a full-access curb cut on Coughlin Lane that would be shared with the recently-constructed Blue Sky Car Wash.
Per the zoning text, Sheetz would be the only gas station permitted in the approximately 80-acre Coughlin’s Crossing development.
“We are back, and we are pleased to be back,” Petruziello told the Planning Commission Wednesday. “We always have a very good working relationship with the City of Delaware.”
Petruziello said the first Sheetz project on U.S. Route 36/state Route 37 is “moving along,” and the expectation is for them to close on the land within the next two weeks. As for the Coughlin’s Crossing location, should it be approved, he said a rough timeline for work to begin on the site would be “late this year or early next year.”
Council will hold the first reading of the Sheetz proposal during its next meeting, which will be held virtually and is scheduled for Monday, June 8. A public hearing will be established as part of the second reading on June 22.
