Plans are underway to construct a Thornton’s convenience store and gas station at 1000 Delaware Ave. A 4,516-square foot building and an island with 10 proposed gas pumps is planned to sit on about 2.1 acres at the north east corner of the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Connolly Street, the current location of Sunbelt Tool Rental. Above is a rendering of the proposed store.
(Photo submitted)
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A new gas station and convenience store is being planned for Delaware Avenue in Marysville.
BSTP is working through the process to construct a Thornton’s convenience store at 1000 Delaware Ave. The project has been approved, with conditions, by the city’s design review board.
The 4,516-square foot building will sit on about 2.1 acres on the northeast corner of the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Connolly Street, the current location of Sunbelt Tool Rental. The current Sunbelt building will be taken down.
Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Thornton’s currently operates 191 stores in six states, including Ohio.
The property is currently zoned Traffic Oriented Commercial, which Marysville City Engineer Jeremy Hoyt said would be appropriate for this type of business.
According to plans submitted for the project, the site will also house an island with at least 10 gasoline pumps.
The site currently has access from Connolly Street and Frontage Road, a short road off Delaware Avenue often considered as the Burger King driveway. Plans call for the entrance onto Frontage Road to be eliminated and for entrances onto Lydia Drive and a right-in-right-out only entrance onto Delaware Avenue to be added.
At a recent meeting, Hoyt said the developer conducted a traffic study. He said the existing signal does not operate efficiently and the city has received complaints from the neighboring businesses.
Hoyt said with the Frontage Road exit closed, drivers wanting to get to U.S. 33 will need to leave onto Lydia Drive and access Delaware Avenue from Coleman’s Crossing Boulevard.
All deliveries to the store will need to use Lydia Drive into and out of the site.
In addition to eliminating the access onto Frontage Road, officials from the city’s design review board asked the developer to reduce the height of the sign to eight feet and add landscaping along Lydia Drive.
Initially the developer had proposed using other materials that look like brick and stone for the building exterior. Officials said they worried about their durability and stressed city code needed to be met. The developer eventually agreed to use actual brick and stone for the exterior.
The design review board approved the application with the requirement that it meet the conditions.
Hoyt said the next step for the project will be to get a building permit through the county then and engineering review through the city.
Documents filed with the city do not include a timeline, though they indicate opening day for the store would be in 2020.
Calls to Thornton’s have been unreturned.
Hoyt said the city has nothing official about the future plans for Sunbelt Rental.