Wawa has FOUR new stores under development right now in the core 42Freeway area, and I thought I’d give a Wawa Construction Photo update on the progress.
Included in this article are Oaklyn, Erial, Blackwood and of course the long awaited Washington Township location at the Five-Points intersection.
A store is also under development in Mount Laurel, which I don’t update on here. Logan Twp and Mantua have also approved new Wawa locations but I don’t believe either have seen activity yet.
Today I visited Washington Township and Oaklyn, and about a week ago I visited Erial and Blackwood.
All four stores are in different stages of development, with Oaklyn being the furthest along.
I’ll explain more in an upcoming video but Wawa uses two different sets of contractors in their development process, effectively defining two stages of General Contractors.
- Site Approval and Prep: works the lengthy local process to acquire the properties, get government approvals, clear the land and install storm management systems (I an unsure on underground utilities at this stage)
- Building and Gas Station Development: takes over after all of the site prep work is completed and they develop the core visible Wawa features of the building and gas station. Simply, to the building contractors… all of the sites are basically the same whether they are in New Jersey, Virginia or Florida.
This split of responsibilities gives Wawa local experts to manage the very rough edges of getting a project approved and started… while the building development team can later move through the process very quickly as they start with a very consistent starting point.
This is why we will sometimes see a new Wawa property fully cleared and ready for development, but then just sit for weeks or months…. as the 2nd Contractor clears their schedule to take over. This is likely the story in Blackwood.
Within each of the two stages, Wawa also has multiple contractors . I don’t know how many there are though, or how they are allocated to different projects.
So considering that we will have FOUR new Wawa locations ready for building construction just a few miles apart from each other, it’s possible one or two of the locations sits even longer… waiting for stage 2 Building crews to free up from the other projects!
So right now Blackwood and Erial in Stage 1 construction (site prep). Blackwood appears to have completed Stage 1 and is waiting on the second contractor to take over and build the building, and only Oaklyn is fully in that Stage 2 development step.
I have also covered the new store being developed in Mount Laurel for my MarltonPike.com website. I will not have an update on that location at this time.
I do NOT have an estimated opening on any of the stores.
No one really is able to give accurate estimates today and most businesses refuse to do so. Honestly in hundreds of articles I’ve written about new developments coming in I can only think of one larger project that actually hit it’s timeline estimates… And that was the Gloucester Premium Outlets!
Wawa Oaklyn NJ
The site of the new Wawa in Oaklyn was previously a Burns auto dealership. Auto sales have taken place at this location for many decades, and for much of that time they were Chrysler sales.
To make room for the new Wawa with gas pumps, the auto dealership buildings were demolished as well as several homes immediately behind the dealership.
My last update on this location was on November 8th at MarltonPike.com, and at the time contractors had the property completely cleared and were just starting the concrete foundation for the building. Underground gas tanks were also in place at that time.
The sidewalks, curbing and required roadway changes had also been completed at as of November.
It has been two months since that visit and as mentioned the building shell and roof are fully constructed, and the gas station canopies are mostly in place.
The interior of the building it’s just being built out now and you can see the exposed interior wall studs.
Pallets of material are stacked inside the front edge of the building awaiting to be installed.
In the front corner of the building workers seem to be working on underground utility aspects, with utility trenches heading into the corner of the building
The last thing to call out is over by the gas tanks you can see the blue gas lines laid out heading towards the pumps, which are not installed yet.
My November update at MarltonPike.com includes a site plan.
Wawa Blackwood-Clementon Road
This location was the former Entenmann’s Bakery outlet and distribution property. Rita’s Water Ice also maintained a small building on the property.
A ModWash car wash has also been under development just a few hundred feet away.
There is not much to say about this location.
It appears that they have fully completed the Site Prep work including stormwater management and utilities.
The property is fully cleared and graded.
I believe it’s simply waiting on the next developer to free up their schedule so that construction can start on this location.
This 42Freeway June 2022 update shows the demolition, stormwater pipes on site, and siteplan
Wawa Washington Township (Five Points)
I live close to this under construction Wawa and visit the site regularly, although I’ve been waiting on more significant progress to include it in an update.
This Wawa it is located in the Five-Points intersection of Washington Township next to Deptford, where Rts 47 and 41, Egg Harbor Rd and Blackwood-Barnsboro Rd intersect.
Land for this project was made available after the realignment of Blackwood-Barnsboro Rd to be further from the intersection, which created a large single piece of developable property.
A Burger King restaurant is also to be developed in this property, to sit in the corner closest to the new traffic signal of Egg Harbor Rd. The Burger King is not under development as of yet.
At this stage of the Wawa project the contractor is preparing the site, ahead of the actual building and gas station structures going in.
Crews have been actively working for weeks (and in fact were there today) to install the stormwater management systems for the property which includes stormwater grates and the piping required to funnel water into the stormwater basin.
The 42Freeway September 2022 update has a site plan depiction and links to a lot of other coverage
Wawa Erial – Gloucester Township
The Erial Wawa location is at the intersection of Erial-Cementon Rdand New Brooklyn-Erial Rd.
Also at this intersection are the Erial fire station and a Rite-Aid pharmacy.
The Wawa property previously included a bank at the corner and three adjacent homes.
The bank and homes have recently been demolished, which was somewhat of a surprise to me!
I say surprise because back on September 28th the developer appeared before Gloucester Township Zoning Board asking for an extension of their prior approval.
The developer stated back in September that the Erial Wawa project had been delayed due to COVID pandemic rules allowing tenants in the homes to extend their living arrangements on the property.
So I thought this would mean further delays before we saw any construction activity!
But contractors moved quickly and a month later were on-site starting the demolition process. My December 1st images show the crews tearing into the residential homes, ahead of the demolition of the bank.
Today the property is completely clear of buildings and the construction crews are working on grading and preparing the site as seen in my January 5th photos.
The 42Freeway October 2022 update includes the Wawa construction site plan.
Links and Locations
Wawa: Upcoming Locations
Wawa Oaklyn
1006 White Horse Pike
Oaklyn, NJ 08107
Wawa Blackwood
1340 Blackwood-Clementon Rd
Blackwood Gloucester Township NJ
Wawa Erial
Erial-Clementon Road and Erial-New Brooklyn Road.
Erial Gloucester Twp NJ
Wawa at 5 Points Intersection Washington Township
Egg Harbor Road at 5-Points
Washington Township New Jersey