Unity board OKs GetGo relocation, to consider new Sheetz

Giant Eagle’s plan to relocate and expand its Unity GetGo store moved a step forward this week.

Township supervisors declared the convenience store and gas station an approved conditional use at the new site at Route 30 and Giffin Drive.

At a 4 p.m. hearing Tuesday , the supervisors will consider a similar request for a proposed Sheetz convenience store a short distance to the east, at Route 30 and Theater Street.

Sheetz spokesman Nick Ruffner confirmed that the Altoona-based convenience and fuel chain wants to develop a new store at the intersection, supplementing a nearby store at Ligonier Street and Route 982 in Latrobe.

He said the proposed 6,000-square-foot store would have indoor and outdoor seating for customers and the ability to simultaneously fuel up to 16 vehicles.

“This project is in the very early stages, but we expect construction to begin at some point next spring with an opening date projected as late next summer,” he said Friday.

Township officials said Giant Eagle will have to submit a site plan to the Unity planning commission as the next step in seeking approval for the Giffin Drive GetGo. The store would supplant the shuttered Arnold Palmer Motors dealership.

Pat Avolio, Giant Eagle’s director of development, has said the 6,000-square-foot store and accompanying gas pumps are proposed to take the place of a smaller GetGo store in the parking lot of the nearby Mountain Laurel Plaza, freeing the latter parcel for new development.

John Mylant, chairman of the supervisors, said the new GetGo location should be a major improvement over the existing site.

“They’ll have room down there to expand,” he said. “There’s congestion where they’re at now. It’s hard to get in and out.”

Avolio said the relocated GetGo also would have a drive-through car wash and, with approval from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, would sell alcoholic beverages. Seating for 30 diners would be included, to meet a requirement for such sales.