On August 17, 2021 the Mantua Township Planning Board will hear a proposal for the development of a new Super Wawa to be located on Rt 45 Bridgeton Pike at Mt Royal Road, across from the existing “classic” Wawa store. Clearly the new Super Wawa with Gas Station will replace the older store.
The plan calls for a 5,585 convenience store with fuel sales. While we don’t have the site-plan yet, we can expect the familiar Super Wawa development of the core convenience store with food prep area, and a separate large canopied fuel area.
For those not in the area, traveling down Route 45 this location is just past the Home Depot and Kohl’s on the opposite side.
There is also a Heritage’s Convenience store in this area. Heritage’s sits at the corner of Rt 45 and Jackson Rd and will be unaffected by this project. The larger new Super Wawa will be located next to them, taking the opposite corner of Rt 45 and Mt Royal Road.
Mantua Township also has a newer Super Wawa on Woodbury-Glassboro Road, at the site of the former Clancy’s Restaurant.
A Long Development History with the Property?
In early 2020 the developer and attorney for Wawa appeared before the Mantua Land Use Board regarding perfecting a subdivsion approval from 2010.
Yes, the property subdivision goes back to 2010! Although it’s not clear to me if that 2010 subdivision was also driven by Wawa.
The undeveloped area between Mt Royal Road and Jackson Road is over 12 acres, with the core corner property Wawa is mostly interested in being on the Mt Royal Road intersection side, at 3.21 acres.
Wawa does not need all 12 acres, but it seems there are some property adjustments in play to extend the Wawa project into a portion of the larger plot of land down Mt Royal Road.
In the meeting minutes from 2020, it is described that the nearby Royal Oaks development had worked with the Wawa development team to implement a plan regarding a water basin.
With Wawa focused mostly on the Mt Royal Road side, this should leave several acres of undeveloped land heading along Jackson Road (Behind Heritage’s)
Well, I don’t have my hands on the site-plans yet, so we’ll have to wait and see for the final layout!
Variances Requested
The properties are located in the Planned Commercial district.
The variances are what we typically see; property setbacks, lighting, signage.
Signage is always a big topic in Planning Board meetings!
One interesting aspect is, it seems Mantua at one time was hoping for a larger tenant for the 12 acre property as the ordinance requires the first developed building to be 30,000 square feet. Wawa of course is asking for a variance to develop a smaller building.
And because commenters will ask, I’ll state that there is no mention of a drive-thru in this Wawa project. While Wawa is experimenting with the idea and has one South Jersey store in Mt Holly offering drive-thru, I’ve seen enough of these notices to believe that if a drive-thru were planned in Mantua, it would’ve been listed in the notice.
Meeting Details
A public hearing in these matters has been scheduled for:
August 17, 2021, at 7:00 p.m.
Mantua Township Municipal Building
401 Main Street
Mantua Township, NJ 08051
All papers are on file with the Secretary of the Planning Board and are available for public inspection during regular business hours.