Wayne Planning Board OKs township's second Wawa store. See where it's going
WAYNE — The Planning Board approved a proposal this week for a new Wawa convenience store and gas station on Hamburg Turnpike.
It will be the second Wawa location in the township, and in all of Passaic County, after the first opened on Route 23 north five months ago.
The 2.4-acre property, owned by Spylen Development of Oakland Inc., is just west of the Valley Road jughandle. It is occupied by a former all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet, which will be demolished.
K-12 DISTRICT: Wayne school board cuts 14 jobs, cites 'troubling trend' in $190.8M budget approval
The site was also the longtime address of Casey O’Toole’s Restaurant & Draught Bar.
Redevelopment will include six fuel pumps, 57 parking spots and a 24/7 market of 5,915 square feet — or 1,179 square feet larger than the highway store.
At a public hearing Monday, agents for Wawa said the proposal was an upgrade from the current use of the property, described as an aging building surrounded by a “sea of asphalt.”
There will be 385 shrubs and trees planted there, and according to a civil engineer, stormwater retention will vastly improve by reducing the rate of runoff to Barbour Pond to the north.
Story continues below map.
Architecture of the market will be different than that of the highway store. The design of mostly brick and composite wood is the latest Wawa prototype, and this application is one of its earliest rollouts, said Michael Redel, a company representative.
Wawa surpassed 1,000 stores in April 2023, and Redel said it plans to open at least 65 more locations by the end of the year.
Its first store in North Carolina will open Thursday in the seaside haven of Kill Devil Hills, near historic Kitty Hawk.
Philip DeVencentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: devencentis@northjersey.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Wawa approved in Wayne on site of former Chinese buffet
