A rendering of the Sheetz that’s planned for the Staples Mill Road site across from the train station. (Images courtesy of Henrico County documents)
The developer that’s bringing a Sheetz to Regency has another location in mind a couple miles east.
Rebkee Co. has filed plans with Henrico County for a Sheetz and a separate commercial building across Staples Mill Road from the Amtrak station.
Plans show the Sheetz would consist of a 6,100-square-foot convenience store with a gas station and car wash. To the south would be a 3,000-square-foot commercial building with drive-thru access across from an entrance road that would align with the traffic signal at the train station entrance.
The project requires a rezoning from residential and office use and a provisional-use permit to allow the car wash and 24-hour business operations. Both requests went before the Planning Commission this month and were deferred to the Nov. 10 meeting.
In a staff report, county planners said they are supportive of the project but encourage a reduction in the operating hours for the car wash, among other requests aimed at reducing noise and light impacts on the adjacent Glenside Woods townhomes.
The county also wants restrictions on construction hours, trash pickup and parking lot cleaning, and for the plans to specify tree preservation on the western side of the site beside the townhomes. The report states that Rebkee has indicated that that side of the site, which makes up about a third of the 9-acre property, would be preserved to avoid wetlands and provide a buffer for the townhomes.
Images of a Sheetz prototype included in the plans show the gas station and convenience store building.
The report notes that staff heard from citizens concerned about the project ahead of a community meeting that was held earlier this month.
The wooded site consists of parts of two parcels between Glenside Drive and Bremner Boulevard. The larger parcel, at 7500 Staples Mill Road, is owned by Henrico’s Economic Development Authority, which was given the land by the county after it purchased it five years ago for $695,000. The county assessed the parcel this year at just under $195,000.
The other parcel, which runs along the north side of the site and connects with Balmoral Avenue, is privately owned and was planned for a road that was never built.
Rebkee has agreed to pay $750,000 for the property, said Anthony Romanello, Henrico’s EDA director. He said Rebkee approached the county about the potential use of the site and the county deeded the land to the EDA.
While the staff report acknowledges potential impacts to the townhomes, county planners say the development would be appropriate at the site, which is in an enterprise zone and is part of a so-called opportunity area that the county has established to encourage revitalization and reinvestment along the Staples Mill Road corridor.
A conceptual site plan shows the Sheetz would fill the site’s northeastern corner, with the gas pumps fronting the road, the convenience store behind those and the car wash and a stormwater retention pond behind that building. The separate commercial building would fill the southeastern corner, with a two-lane drive-thru wrapping around the south side of the building.
Plans do not identify the user for the separate drive-thru building.
A conceptual site plan with Staples Mill Road at the bottom shows the layout of the Sheetz and a smaller commercial building with dual drive-thru lanes.
The overall development would include 71 parking spaces. In addition to the traffic signal entrance, access to the site would also be provided via an entrance to a CVS store to the north.
Engineering firm Kimley-Horn drew up the plans, and local attorney Andy Condlin with Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin is representing Rebkee in its rezoning and permit requests.
The project would be the second Sheetz that Rebkee has proposed in Henrico in recent months. The Richmond-based firm is developing another one at Regency as part of its work with Thalhimer Realty Partners to transform the mall into a mixed-use development.
Elsewhere across town, additional Sheetz locations are being proposed by different developers, including one at the Stratford Hills Shopping Center in Richmond and another planned at Iron Bridge Road and Irongate Drive in Chesterfield, where market newcomer and competitor Royal Farms is also planning locations.
Meanwhile, Rebkee recently purchased a smaller site along another commercial corridor in Henrico. An LLC tied to the company paid $2.1 million for the 1.6-acre property at 2401 Mechanicsville Turnpike, which used to be home to a Tuffy auto shop that has since been demolished.
Rebkee has not filed plans for that site and declined a request for comment. The site is just north of the Interstate 64 interchange and was assessed by the county at $267,100.
Note: This story has been updated with Rebkee’s offered purchase price for the land.
A rendering of the Sheetz that’s planned for the Staples Mill Road site across from the train station. (Images courtesy of Henrico County documents)
The developer that’s bringing a Sheetz to Regency has another location in mind a couple miles east.
Rebkee Co. has filed plans with Henrico County for a Sheetz and a separate commercial building across Staples Mill Road from the Amtrak station.
Plans show the Sheetz would consist of a 6,100-square-foot convenience store with a gas station and car wash. To the south would be a 3,000-square-foot commercial building with drive-thru access across from an entrance road that would align with the traffic signal at the train station entrance.
The project requires a rezoning from residential and office use and a provisional-use permit to allow the car wash and 24-hour business operations. Both requests went before the Planning Commission this month and were deferred to the Nov. 10 meeting.
In a staff report, county planners said they are supportive of the project but encourage a reduction in the operating hours for the car wash, among other requests aimed at reducing noise and light impacts on the adjacent Glenside Woods townhomes.
The county also wants restrictions on construction hours, trash pickup and parking lot cleaning, and for the plans to specify tree preservation on the western side of the site beside the townhomes. The report states that Rebkee has indicated that that side of the site, which makes up about a third of the 9-acre property, would be preserved to avoid wetlands and provide a buffer for the townhomes.
Images of a Sheetz prototype included in the plans show the gas station and convenience store building.
The report notes that staff heard from citizens concerned about the project ahead of a community meeting that was held earlier this month.
The wooded site consists of parts of two parcels between Glenside Drive and Bremner Boulevard. The larger parcel, at 7500 Staples Mill Road, is owned by Henrico’s Economic Development Authority, which was given the land by the county after it purchased it five years ago for $695,000. The county assessed the parcel this year at just under $195,000.
The other parcel, which runs along the north side of the site and connects with Balmoral Avenue, is privately owned and was planned for a road that was never built.
Rebkee has agreed to pay $750,000 for the property, said Anthony Romanello, Henrico’s EDA director. He said Rebkee approached the county about the potential use of the site and the county deeded the land to the EDA.
While the staff report acknowledges potential impacts to the townhomes, county planners say the development would be appropriate at the site, which is in an enterprise zone and is part of a so-called opportunity area that the county has established to encourage revitalization and reinvestment along the Staples Mill Road corridor.
A conceptual site plan shows the Sheetz would fill the site’s northeastern corner, with the gas pumps fronting the road, the convenience store behind those and the car wash and a stormwater retention pond behind that building. The separate commercial building would fill the southeastern corner, with a two-lane drive-thru wrapping around the south side of the building.
Plans do not identify the user for the separate drive-thru building.
A conceptual site plan with Staples Mill Road at the bottom shows the layout of the Sheetz and a smaller commercial building with dual drive-thru lanes.
The overall development would include 71 parking spaces. In addition to the traffic signal entrance, access to the site would also be provided via an entrance to a CVS store to the north.
Engineering firm Kimley-Horn drew up the plans, and local attorney Andy Condlin with Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin is representing Rebkee in its rezoning and permit requests.
The project would be the second Sheetz that Rebkee has proposed in Henrico in recent months. The Richmond-based firm is developing another one at Regency as part of its work with Thalhimer Realty Partners to transform the mall into a mixed-use development.
Elsewhere across town, additional Sheetz locations are being proposed by different developers, including one at the Stratford Hills Shopping Center in Richmond and another planned at Iron Bridge Road and Irongate Drive in Chesterfield, where market newcomer and competitor Royal Farms is also planning locations.
Meanwhile, Rebkee recently purchased a smaller site along another commercial corridor in Henrico. An LLC tied to the company paid $2.1 million for the 1.6-acre property at 2401 Mechanicsville Turnpike, which used to be home to a Tuffy auto shop that has since been demolished.
Rebkee has not filed plans for that site and declined a request for comment. The site is just north of the Interstate 64 interchange and was assessed by the county at $267,100.
Note: This story has been updated with Rebkee’s offered purchase price for the land.
Well, it’s about time something positive happened in that area, it has been strangely resistant to growth.
Any word on what going to happen to the huge, mostly empty Comcast building a few miles down the road?
I believe Staples Mill is the busiest Amtrak station in Virginia. We should be making more of this and promoting better transportation options for passengers to get to and from the station. Giving 6 acres over to gas cars right on the doorstep is not the progressive thinking Henrico would have us believe with their greener developments a few miles up the road.
Maybe they will have EV charging stations?
I bet the other building will be a chikfila. None in the area and the building looks like one.
No exactly, it’s only showing 8 cars in line! 🙂
This goes directly against Henrico’s small area plan for this. In fact, it makes it nearly impossible. Henrico already has tons of gas stations.