SPRINGVILLE — The beaver-themed travel stop chain Buc-ee’s that has stolen the hearts of thousands of people in Texas and beyond is expanding to Springville.
The City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday to create public improvements west of I-15 at the 261 exit to allow for the development of a Buc-ee’s Family Travel Center.
While the approved memorandum of understanding is not a finalized deal, “We certainly wouldn’t get to this point if we didn’t have a lot of confidence in them and our ability to finalize this transaction,” Springville Mayor Matt Packard said.
Located at 1400 North and 2600 West — where currently only a power line sits in the undeveloped plot — Buc-ee’s will be developing the area before building its store and will be reimbursed by the city for building some roads, curbing, sewer and water lines and other additional infrastructure improvements.
“We recently had a developer want to come and put a business there and there’s been a lot of excitement,” city attorney John Penrod said. “Since I have heard of Buc-ee’s, I have seen shirts all over the place … (Buc-ee’s) want to come into the Utah area and they want to make Springville their first move.”
Buc-ee’s director of development Stan Beard said the company is so excited to expand into Utah, the 10th state the company will have a location in.
“This is, as we all know, our first store in Utah and it belongs here,” Beard said at the city council meeting. “We are a family travel center. We are the fun store. And if this isn’t a fun, family town, I don’t know what is.”
The store is anticipated to be approximately 74,000 square feet with around 120 fuel pumps and “a bunch” of electric vehicle charging stations, he said.
“We belong here. We are happy to be here. We are happy to give you a good reason to spend some infrastructure investment dollars. The return on that investment I promise you is going to be better than any one expense,” Beard said.
Buc-ee’s will bring more than 200 full-time jobs to the area, he said.
There is still a lot of work to be done with the Utah Department of Transportation, but Beard anticipates the infrastructure improvements will take about nine months to a year before the company breaks ground for the store. Then, from shovel in the ground to doors opening will take about 15 to 18 months, Beard estimated.
“We are ready to be a partner to this town and to this state, and we are excited to be here,” Beard said.
Correction: A previous version of this article said the store would be 7,400 square feet instead of 74,000 square feet.
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