This building at the Stratford Hills Shopping Center is slated to be demolished to make way for a new Sheetz. (Mike Platania photo)
With new locations lined up in Chesterfield and Henrico, a Pennsylvania gas station chain is also heading to Richmond’s Southside.
Work will soon be underway on a new Sheetz at 2911 Hathaway Road in the Stratford Hills Shopping Center.
The gas station and convenience store will rise where a vacant 10,600-square-foot building from the 1980s currently stands.
The eastern strip of the Stratford Hills Shopping Center that’s home to the likes of Galley, Nifty Thrifty Store and new arrival Natalie’s Taste of Lebanon will remain and not be impacted by the new project.
A rendering of the planned location of Sheetz. (Image courtesy of city documents)
Rich Johnson, president of The Wilton Cos., which owns the shopping center, said Sheetz has a ground lease on the land and that demolition work is set to begin soon.
“It’s going to be a huge improvement to that area. It’ll be a new and shiny, really high-quality operator,” Johnson said.
Plans show that the Sheetz will be about 6,100 square feet and an awning covering gas pumps will sit behind it, north of Forest Hill Avenue. Kimley-Horn is the project’s engineer and landscape architect, and Graybeale Construction is listed as general contractor.
Johnson said he anticipates it’ll be a roughly six-month buildout.
It’s the third location Sheetz has in the works for the Richmond region. It’s working on a drive-thru location at Regency in Henrico and another spot in Chesterfield near the Irongate Village Shopping Center.
This building at the Stratford Hills Shopping Center is slated to be demolished to make way for a new Sheetz. (Mike Platania photo)
With new locations lined up in Chesterfield and Henrico, a Pennsylvania gas station chain is also heading to Richmond’s Southside.
Work will soon be underway on a new Sheetz at 2911 Hathaway Road in the Stratford Hills Shopping Center.
The gas station and convenience store will rise where a vacant 10,600-square-foot building from the 1980s currently stands.
The eastern strip of the Stratford Hills Shopping Center that’s home to the likes of Galley, Nifty Thrifty Store and new arrival Natalie’s Taste of Lebanon will remain and not be impacted by the new project.
A rendering of the planned location of Sheetz. (Image courtesy of city documents)
Rich Johnson, president of The Wilton Cos., which owns the shopping center, said Sheetz has a ground lease on the land and that demolition work is set to begin soon.
“It’s going to be a huge improvement to that area. It’ll be a new and shiny, really high-quality operator,” Johnson said.
Plans show that the Sheetz will be about 6,100 square feet and an awning covering gas pumps will sit behind it, north of Forest Hill Avenue. Kimley-Horn is the project’s engineer and landscape architect, and Graybeale Construction is listed as general contractor.
Johnson said he anticipates it’ll be a roughly six-month buildout.
It’s the third location Sheetz has in the works for the Richmond region. It’s working on a drive-thru location at Regency in Henrico and another spot in Chesterfield near the Irongate Village Shopping Center.
That shopping center is undervalued and doesn’t seem to keep up with the area growth. I wish the Wilton Co. would try to fix it up and attract better tenants, rather than dropping this ugly gas station on the corner.
They replaced the entire roof with a mix on metal and slate looking material plus the HVAC units are being replaced. Wilton’s mix of tenants includes dozens of local, small, community based and well LOVED stores like the article lists but also Flower-a-rama, Positive Vive Cafe (now closed), Eat 66, VAC Systems of Richmond, Critter Bathhouse, Once Upon A Vine South, and others that I’d glad the local Wilton company place in their centers. And FYI that was a 1990s 7-11 (backed up with the old Frank’s and closed cleaners) that moved across the street to add gas pumps a… Read more »
Plus, many of those well loved local businesses may not want to pay more rent for large expensive changes.
This will create a complete cluster at that intersection and only going there so Sheetz can compete with the Wawa down the street (1 of soon-to-be 4 gas stations in less than a mile). Not to mention safety concerns for cyclists using the brand new bike lanes on Forrest Hill Ave guiding them to Pony Pasture via Hathaway Rd. As for the tenants in that shopping center, I love all of them, they just have a landlord that doesn’t want to put any money into the building. At least the roof wont leak anymore since being replaced after that severe… Read more »
I think they should build housing or apartments at this location with a 5 to 8 story building with 200 to 300 units to ease the housing shortage. I think gas stations will be on the way out soon and very fast.
I think what The Veil did at Westover Hills Blvd is fantastic example of that. But while I love Stratford Hills and think the whole area is undervalued, its nowhere near as cool as Westover Hills area. 200-300 units is a pretty sizeable multifamily development, 50 units might be better fit just for scale and parking requirements.
I grew up in Granite, east of the Powhite Parkway, in the ’70s – smack dab in the middle between Westover Hills and Stratford Hills – and as far back as I can remember, that’s always been the case. Stratford Hills was cool – but Westover Hills was always WAY cooler. I think we can point to a few reasons this has been the case. Chief among them — most likely — is the fact that the neighborhood dates to the 1920s, having really developed with the construction of the Nickel Bridge. Even through Westover Hills was not annexed into… Read more »
I agree with you very much, Mr. Schwendeman. The masterplan quite intelligently identifies this as a node for neighborhood growth. Significantly densifying neighborhood subcenters like this one is one of the best ways to combat sprawl, increase housing, and make our city healthier, more sustainable, and, in my view at least, more attractive.
I’m carious when will the last gas station be built in Richmond before they start scraping the gas stations. I already have a EV that offsets over 6 to 10 gallons of gasoline a week.
I hope they build some eletric car fast chargers at this place.
Wawa and Sheetz don’t really consider themselves gas stations. I think they are both generally more focused on selling food and beverages because the margins are better. They’ve even said as much. So even if less and less gasoline is needed, they still are a place people are going to get food. Most of the Sheetz have drive thrus now.
I’d have to assume as big as they both are, they have a plan for gas to be less and less a part of their business model and aren’t too worried about “the end of gas stations”.
Putting in EV station with a Sheetz or Wawa might actually help them then. They would have a captive audience to buy food and drinks while their car charges.
Wawa on Brook Road just over the line in Henrico has elec EVgo chargers in their parking lot. They are right by the pump canopy.
If you think this neighborhood is upset, just wait when a Sheetz hits the Fan, those folks will lose their minds!
I see you, and I appreciate you.
Nice to have a Sheetz in the city but why this location though? The southwest corner of Semmes and Cowardin lends itself better for this project.
Sheetz likes to be near its competitor for a start and Semmes/Cowardin is a dead corridor and not a lot of retailers have interest in the area it still has a perceived crime issue (probably a lot more perceived than reality) and still has an overall low median income service area (but it is growing).
There is a great deal of truth to this. Look at the proximity of a Lowe’s within spitting distance of a Home Depot. I spent a number of years with Applebee’s, and their VP of Real Estate told me that part of their model was to target a successful chain and saturate the market. “Look at 7-11. There’s one on every corner. Why not us?”
Well, it’s bad, but it could be worse – another tobacco/cbd “joint” waiting for legal marijuana to arrive in the Commonwealth.