Sheetz Plans for Expansion at North Atherton Street Location

Sheetz wants to renovate its North Atherton Street location by next summer, but a few hurdles still need to be cleared before the 6,300-square feet expansion project is full go.

“We don’t have the total green light,” said Steve Augustine, director of real estate for Sheetz.

The Patton Township Board of Supervisors approved the plans two weeks ago, which call for the convenience store to build over West Clearfield Avenue, which will be re-routed to merge into Patriot Lane.

“Some folks consider it an alley way,” Augustine said. “It’s actually a road used to connect into North Atherton that needs to be abandoned.”

Sheetz purchased the land opposite Clearview Avenue from Keystone Real Estate Group. Augustine declined to disclose the cost of the land purchase.

The other hurdle is acquiring a highway occupancy permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Augustine said. A traffic impact study must be completed and a formal application to PennDOT submitted.

Augustine hopes for full approval by the end of the summer. The plan, he said, would be to close the store the first week of May 2013, build through the summer and re-open by fall 2013.

The store won’t differ much from the recently built South Atherton Street store — except this will include indoor seating. The expansion plans to increase parking spots to 38 and offer a new layout for four gas pumps.

A retail boom and new housing projects around the North Atherton Street location propelled the need for expansion. Initially, Augustine said the fear was the Sheetz located on Valley Vista Drive would detract business from the North Atherton Street store.

“The reverse happened,” Augustine said. “The store got better as far as sales.”