Construction has started in Pennsville NJ on the site preparation for a brand-new Super Wawa convenience store with gas operations.
This new project is located on South Broadway (Rt 49) at the front of the Cranberry Plaza where Save-A-Lot Grocery is also located.
The convenience store will be 5,915 square feet, which makes it one of the larger models of the traditional Super Wawa configuration.
The adjacent gas operations will feature 12 fueling positions with six dispensers, and of course the overhead protective canopy.
The project is set to include 56 parking spots when only 48 are required by town zoning. Two of those parking spots will offer electric vehicle parking stations.
As part of that March approval it was also agreed that this front portion of land for the new Wawa would be split out into its own tax lot/property, which will be owned by the developers of the Wawa.
The plans for the new Wawa were approved by Pennsville in March of this year, and 42Freeway first wrote about it in April.
Wawa Pennsville – Quick Construction Start
Compared to other South Jersey approved Wawa projects, seeing construction crews on the Pennsville site just 8 months after town approval is a very quick turnaround!
Likely a big reason for the quick startup of this Wawa is that it will not have direct road access, which means the project likely did not require extensive approval review from Salem County or NJDOT (if at all).
If you’re unfamiliar with that process, when new developments require direct access to roads operated by the County or State, those government entities get to review the plans… looking for potential impacts to the traffic flow and patterns along the roadway.
In situations where a proposed project needs roadway improvements (wider shoulders, dedicated turn lanes, new traffic signals)… it is the developer’s responsibility to pay for those upgrades, and most times this can turn into lengthy design and negotiation steps between the Government body and the developer.
That being said, while Wawa does prefer its stores to have direct road access (particularly at a busy corner intersection), this new Pennsville store is being developed at the front of the existing shopping center’s parking lot and customers will only have access to this Wawa from within the shopping center’s parking lot.
Even though this Wawa is being developed along the road frontage, to access the store, customers driving on South Broadway/49 will have to enter Cranberry Plaza at the center’s main center entrance (which is a traffic light intersection)… and then when in the center’s parking lot, turn left towards the Wawa development.
This is a similar pattern to what was implemented for a newer AutoZone store which was built on the opposite side of the shopping center’s entrance.
Legacy Wawa
Locals will note that there is an existing legacy Wawa open less than 1000 feet away from this new Super Wawa project.
While I don’t see the fate of that older Wawa noted in planning documents I think it’s safe to say that this new Cranberry Plaza located Wawa will replace the older legacy Wawa store… and the smaller location at Broadway and Carroll Ave. would close.
Clearly Wawa is looking to significantly reduce the number of smaller/older stores in their portfolio by either upsizing with an nearby all-new Super Wawa… or in some cases simply closing the store.
As an example, a legacy Wawa in Cherry Hill closed this month after plans to develop a new Super Wawa on the other side of Route 70 (across from the older store) were cancelled based on community concerns. Likely local residents expected the smaller Wawa to remain open… but Wawa felt the smaller store was not sustainable.
At this time there are no details on when this new Pennsville Wawa will open.
Links and Location
Wawa at Cranberry Plaza Pennsville (Under Construction)
Cranberry Plaza
233 S Broadway
Pennsville NJ