THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 17, 1994 TAG: 9407150259
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Business
SOURCE: BY CAROLE O'KEEFFE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
SOUTHERN OIL CO. Inc., will build its eighth and largest convenience store and gas station at one of the city's prime retail locations, the site formerly occupied by Safeway food store at the corner of Constance Road and Main Street.
David L. Holland, company president, said the new store will be roughly twice the size of Southern Oil's largest current outlet and will generate as much as $3 million in retail sales the first year. The station will sell Exxon gas.
``We hope to have the mother of all convenience stores,'' Holland said. ``It will be special.''
No opening date has been set. But demolition of the abandoned grocery store is scheduled for September.
It took Southern Oil Co. three tries during the last six years to buy the site.
``We couldn't get together on the money,'' Holland said.
Holland finally bought the two-acre site for $545,000.
While the first tenants will be the convenience store and gas station, Holland said he would like to see the large site used for other businesses as well.
Of concern to some in Suffolk will be the exterior appearance of the business and the possibility of increased traffic on an already overburdened thoroughfare.
Some 40,000 vehicles daily pass through the historical crossroads just south of the Nansemond River.
Holland, a Suffolk native, wants to embellish the exterior with every possible Colonial detail to make the store, to be named Southern Food Store, fit in with its illustrious neighbors just across the street.
Riddick's Folly, now a museum, and the Suffolk General District Courthouse were both built before the Civil War.
The Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society will not meet until late summer and has taken no position on the convenience store plan.
But Thomas Waller, the city's economic development director, said he has confidence Southern Oil will build an attractive business ``at the most-traveled intersection in the city of Suffolk.
``I think Mr. Holland, a longtime native and as competent a businessman as he is, will build as attractive as possible a facility adjacent to the historic district,'' Waller said.
Holland plans extensive landscaping on North Main Street and West Constance Road, to include a stand of summer-blooming crape myrtle trees.
``We will make every effort to see that the site blends with the neighborhood,'' Holland said. ``I feel like a lot of people are looking at me and Southern Oil Co. We want to build a store to be proud of and that the community will see as a plus for that intersection.
``I've lived here all my life and hopefully I have a lot of friends,'' he said. ``I want to please as many of them as I can, knowing full well I can't please 100 percent of the people.''
Holland said the criticism he has heard ranges from traffic worries to concerns about the impression the business will make on those who travel through the city.
Thomas Hines, the city's public works director, said traffic should not become a major problem.
The old Safeway once generated enough business to fill the parking lot outside, and the traffic controls in place at that time are still there.
``And built to handle that,'' Hines said. ``I don't see that this project will deteriorate those safeguards already in place.''
In addition, Hines said, the construction of a second left-turn lane onto Main Street from the eastbound side of Constance Road already was planned.
Traffic held there now for 20 to 27 seconds will only have to sit for eight to 10 seconds once the lane is built, he said.
The Safeway property is already zoned for commercial use, but the city gets final approval on the site plan, Hines said.
``He tells us what he wants, we tell him what he can do, and he builds it,'' Hines said.
Holland tentatively plans to have one 50-foot-wide entrance to the property on North Main Street and another 50-foot-wide entrance off West Constance Road.
He also plans two 15-foot entrances: one from Western Avenue and one from Church Street. All signs will be kept low and unobtrusive, lower than allowed by city ordinances, Holland said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
David Holland plans to build a gas station and ``the mother of all
convenience stores'' on this site where the former Safeway building
stands.
by CNB