Wawa Inc. has one site under contract and several more in review for its entrance into Northeast Florida with five or six stores — and expects 20-25 over time.
“We are all in for our efforts in Jacksonville,” Wawa Regional Real Estate Manager Brian Duke said Thursday.
Wawa is the popular Pennsylvania-based convenience store and gas station chain that launched its Florida presence in July 2012 in Central Florida.
It has opened 87 locations in the state at a pace of one every two weeks, Duke said.
At an estimated minimum $5 million capital investment for each store, not counting the cost of real estate, Wawa’s initial Northeast Florida investment is at least $25 million to $30 million.
Each Wawa store hires 40-50 full- and part-time employees, so the initial area wave would create up to 300 jobs.
Duke said the opening date for the first Northeast Florida stores hasn’t been determined. Construction takes up to 10 months after land is secured and permits are issued.
That indicates Wawa’s first Northeast Florida stores could open in 2017, although Duke would not venture an estimated month.
“We are aggressively pursuing sites,” he said.
Duke said the first sites have been identified in Duval and Clay counties and Wawa also is working on some locations in St. Johns County. The site under contract is in Duval.
“We think Jacksonville will end up with 20-25 stores over time,” Duke said, but did not have a timeframe for that.
Wawa and its consulting team have been meeting with city staff and permitting officials “and getting control of our property,” Duke said.
They also are meeting with elected officials in the three counties.
He declined to identify his team of consultants without clearing it with them.
Duke also declined to identify sites, but described Wawa’s preferred locations as 2-acre corner sites at what it considers the best intersections with traffic lights and high traffic counts.
The privately held company operates a 24-hour business “so we rely on heavy traffic,” he said.
Wawa leases or buys its property and works with preferred developer partners. It directs its own construction, so Duke said it tends not to do build-to-suits.
The stores average up to 6,000 square feet and generally offer 16 fueling positions among eight pumps.
Duke said Wawa’s focus on Northeast Florida will be on Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties.
“Jacksonville provides a lot of opportunity to us. It’s a nice city that is open for business,” Duke said.
He said it was a “natural migration for us along the East Coast.”
Wawa has entered the Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers markets and intends to expand along the East Coast this year, including in Volusia, Brevard and Martin counties.
It also intends to expand throughout the state.
Wawa builds customer loyalty through its high-quality food, dairy products and coffee, Duke said.
It offers made-to-order hoagies, soups, salads, smoothies, milkshakes and espresso-based coffees made by barista-trained employees, he said.
Wawa also sells its own branded products.
A company spokeswoman said in November the company’s target is 180 stores in Florida by 2019.
The privately held chain operates more than 700 convenience stores, with over 450 offering fuel, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida.
Wawa traces its corporate history to 1803. Its owner became interested in dairy farming and started a processing plant in Wawa, Pa., in 1902.
With the decline of home milk delivery in the early 1960s, the company opened its first Wawa Food Market in 1964 to sell the dairy products.
Duke and Wawa took part Thursday at the International Council of Shopping Centers Idea Exchange at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront.
More than 340 retail brokers, developers, buildings and consultants attended.
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