High visibility, high traffic and high availability.
Those three qualities make the corner of Manheim Pike and Dillerville Road very attractive to an expansion-minded retailer.
A retailer such as Sheetz.
The convenience-store chain wants to build its initial Lancaster city store on the grassy former ballfield once owned by Armstrong World Industries.
The store could be the first of several buildings on the 13-acre parcel recently acquired by a partnership led by Oak Tree Development Group.
Pending city approval, the new Sheetz — costing more than $2 million —could open as soon as early summer 2009.
The 24-hour store would create 35 to 40 jobs, a Sheetz official said today.
"We view it as a positive project that will bring investment to a site that has been long vacant," said Paula Jackson, the city's chief planner.
Jackson said the venture would add to the city's tax base while serving motorists and workers at nearby businesses, including businesses to come on the rest of the site.
Sheetz wants to build a 5,000-square-foot store on a two-acre section of the parcel, said Walter Siderio, the city's bureau chief for zoning and inspections. That section of the parcel is zoned C-3, or regional commercial.
However, the C-3 designation allows convenience stores only up to 3,000 square feet.
So Oak Tree, on behalf of Sheetz, is scheduled to seek a variance from the city Zoning Hearing Board at 4 p.m. Aug. 18 in Southern Market Center.
Sheetz's Mike LaCesa, director of real estate for the eastern region, said the site has numerous attributes.
"It's an intersection of two busy roads, which is where we like to position our stores," he said.
In addition, there's a need for Sheetz's offerings in the area, a need that will rise as the area grows, according to LaCesa.
Altoona-based Sheetz came to Lancaster County in 1996 by opening a store in New Holland. It now has seven stores across the county.
Some of those have required the demolition of existing buildings.
For instance, the store at Oregon Pike and Eden Road required the razing of the Eden Theater, and the store at Columbia Avenue and Centerville Road required the razing of Kreider's Restaurant.
In this case, the site is undeveloped. Armstrong bought it in 1924 in case it ever wanted to expand its adjoining floor plant.
But after holding the land for nearly eight decades, Armstrong decided it was not needed. The company sold the tract in 2003 for $1.5 million to local developer Robert A. Wolf II.
The next year, Wolf won city approval for a plan to extend Garfield Avenue through the site, rezone the portion north of Garfield to C-3 and keep the rest central manufacturing.
Wolf envisioned a $20 million business park there, with up to four small commercial buildings, such as a bank or restaurant, on the C-3 portion.
Four larger "flex" buildings, which could be divided for a mix of light manufacturing, distribution, showroom and other uses, were to go on the central manufacturing portion.
Those plans never became reality, though.
In April, Wolf sold the property to investors led by Lancaster-based Oak Tree Development and Ian Ruzow, founder of Clipper Magazine, also based here. The price was $4.1 million, according to courthouse records.
Wolf, Oak Tree president Mike O'Brien and Ruzow did not return calls for comment.
However, O'Brien has told city officials that he intends to keep the zoning as is, according to Jackson. No filings for additional buildings on the tract have been made as yet.
Staff writer Tim Mekeel can be reached at tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030.
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