CIty Council approves incentives to bring Buc-ee's to East Amarillo

With unanimous support from all members, the Amarillo City Council approved an economic development agreement to bring the Buc-ee's Travel Center chain to eastern Amarillo at Interstate 40 and Airport Road.

All committee members hailed the proposition as a way to spur development around the Rick Husband Airport area and create full-time jobs for the community. According to officials, the expected annual economic impact on the city would be around $8 million for its proposed $30 million facility.

Buc-ee's travel center is planning to construct a 53,000-square-foot facility with 120 fuel positions to service travelers along the route. With large travel centers located primarily in eastern Texas, this would be the farthest western expansion within the state for the company. Currently, Buc-ee's has 40 locations predominantly in Texas, but it also has locations in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. There are six other states where Buc-ee's has travel centers under development.

The travel center pledges to hire 150 full-time employees with pay starting at $15 an hour within a year of opening.

During the open public forum portion of the council meeting, one member of the public who owns a convenience store business voiced concern that adding a center of this magnitude would take money from local businesses.

Assistant City Manager Andrew Freeman sought to alleviate these concerns to the council and community members by speaking out about the type of business and development Buc-ee's would attract.

“Their focus is mainly for the traveling customer and not on the local customer who has other options,” Freeman said. “Their data from other locations show that the majority of their customers come from 50 or more miles away from their locations.”

Freeman said that the area near the proposed location has a lot of undeveloped land. The arrival of a business of this scope would create other development opportunities in an underserved location. He said that there are at least 100 square miles of underdeveloped land near the site.

“We are not looking to water down our local businesses, but we want to diversify the economy with these incentive policies," Freeman said. “We want to draw more people into the town.”

Mayor Ginger Nelson weighed in on the project's proposed impact, seeking to dispel the idea that Buc-ee's is getting favorable treatment at the expense of local business.

“We are not picking winners and losers to succeed, “ Nelson said. “We want to recruit more businesses to be a part of the healthy economy that is growing here in Amarillo.”

Expounding on the impact to local business, Stan Beard, director of real estate for Buc-ee's, addressed public concerns.

“I am really excited to get a Buc-ee's to West Texas,” Beard said. “We are obviously a different animal from a typical convenience store. Our customers are highway travelers. We consider ourselves a destination.”

He stated that he expects the average customer to come from 150 miles away or more.

“We want to get started as soon as possible,” Beard said.

Beard said his company wants to get started on the project this year and would start no later than February of the following year. The company still needs to close on the property for the location and set up building permits.

Councilmember Eddy Sauer spoke to concerns that Buc-ee's was getting special treatment with this incentive.

“This type of deal is not just for Buc-ee's; these incentives are available for any business that qualifies,” Sauer said. "I would hope this would encourage other businesses to come forward with this type of project.”

During the meeting, the city outlined the details of the economic incentive agreement with Buc-ee's. As with the company's other locations, Buc-ee's representatives state that the company never moves forward without economic incentives already in place. The details include:

• New sales tax collections for the city at 50% of the city’s 1.5% for 20 years, then full collection after the end of term;

• $275,000 donation to benefit community-oriented projects, civic events or other benevolent purposes within the city as determined by City Council;

• Including the word ‘Amarillo’ on the primary freestanding sign;

• Maintaining an annual membership with the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce;

• 18 square feet of community information kiosk space within the travel center;

• Make an effort to hire local contractors and suppliers to construct the project;

• New ad valorem taxes from a $30 million-plus investment, with no requested abatement or rebate.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to help put Amarillo on the map even more with having an even more recognized regional, national brand that is Buc-ee’s to encourage new travelers that maybe bypassed Amarillo and took a different route, and it really encourages them to come here,” Freeman added.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Buc-ee's travel center is officially coming to East Amarillo