by Kate Shunney
Hancock town officials said loud and clear during their September monthly meeting that a new truck plaza with restaurants is still coming to the east end of town.
Mayor Tim Smith said he wanted to lay some social media rumors to rest that water service from the town and other considerations had pulled the plug on the project. That’s not the case, he said.
Permitting through the county is still underway, in part because a section of the lower truck stop property is in the floodplain. That’s not where the plaza will be built, but floodplain planning is still a requirement of the project.
Triad Engineering, the firm leading the engineering portion of the plaza project, was expected to have a construction meeting with multiple parties late last week, said Smith. A contractor has been hired for construction of the new travel center.
Wooden roof trusses were already onsite at the truck stop property early last week.
Stacks of wooden trusses sit in the parking lot of the former Hancock truck stop, awaiting the start of construction on a new travel center.
photo by Geoff Fox
Morgantown-based Bruceton Farm Services (BFS) purchased Hancock’s Little Sandy truck stop in 2013. In June of this year. contractors tore down the existing truck stop building to clear the lot.
According to permit applications with Washington County and the company’s spokesperson, BFS plans to build a 7,700-sq. ft. travel center with a High Flow Diesel gas station, Little Ceasar’s pizza and an attached IHOP restaurant. A free-standing 3,720-sq. ft. Burger King with a drive-through is also planned. All of those locations are expected to operate 24 hours per day, seven days a week, say permit records.
BFS estimated the main two-story travel center will employ 45 people and another 20-30 people will work at the Burger King.
BFS is headquartered in Morgantown and is a family-owned and operated convenience store chain with more than 70 locations in Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. BFS is a franchise partner with several branded fast food operations.