The Goodyear City Council voted unanimously Jan. 29 to approve the rezoning of a 71-acre property for a Buc-ee’s retail store slated to bring in $25 million annually and 4,000-8,000 visitors a day.
Located at the southeast corner of Bullard Avenue and Interstate 10, the site will house mixed industrial use and the famous retail brand.
According to the attached agenda development documents, the westernmost portion of the site, running along Bullard Avenue, will be developed as a 75,400-square-foot Buc-ee’s retail store with a service station.
The light commercial and warehouse side, east of the Buc-ee’s area, will be a 722,000-square-foot mixed-use area. Staff said hotels, restaurants, and offices would be considered with the underlying industrial availability.
According to the developer, Scottsdale-based EJM Development Co., the store is projected to bring in $25 million in annual gross taxable sales from retail efforts alone. Fuel was not used in the included revenue calculations — Goodyear’s Buc-ee’s projects to sell 18 million gallons annually.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Arizona's average gas price increased by over two dollars from March 2020 to 2022.
Goodyear staff stated several times that no semi-trucks would be allowed on the property.
The retail concept projects to bring in more than 100,000 weekly visitors to Goodyear, according to EJM. Of those visitors, 80% of them will be out-of-county shoppers.
Councilmember Sheri Lauritano said it is a massive number of visitors compared with the popularity of Goodyear.
“If you look at (the) 100,000, we have about 111,000 people in Goodyear,” she said. “So weekly, we’d have the population of our city going into this location. So … the sales tax revenue and the sales tax reimbursement – it's really important for people to see the scale of what the commerce is going to be here.”
Lauritano later said from her understanding a Buc-ee’s is a "Cracker Barrel meets QuikTrip meets Costco meets anything you can find with food and groceries and gas and supposedly wonderful barbecue and restaurants."
Goodyear Mayor Joe Pizzillo said he liked the idea of out-of-county revenue coming into the city because it would bring in more business rather than take away from local ones.
“This is going to put the West Valley on the map,” he said. “So, it's not really competing against our local businesses. Which makes it even better from our perspective.”
Litchfield Park Mayor Thomas L. Schoaf was in attendance, in an unofficial capacity, as an attorney representing Jeff and Linda Jacobs, owners of Ass Kickin' gift shop.
According to Schoaf, the owners do not oppose the development to the east. They would like a traffic light alignment that’ll allegedly assist traffic and aid more hospitable flow for their property.
“That traffic signal needs to come down to the centerline of the properties so that proper access can be planned for Bullard Avenue for both of the uses, which will be on the west side of this property,” he said. “But if that's not done then congestion is going to become a tremendous problem for all the citizens of Goodyear and all the people who come off the freeway that try to use these properties and to use the Buc-ee’s.
Buc-ee’s released a statement to the city of Goodyear via a press release.
“We are happy to hear of the city’s decision tonight. Buc-ee’s is continuing its process toward making Goodyear our first home in Arizona, and this was a really big step toward that goal,” said Stan Beard, Buc-ee’s director of real estate and development.
According to the city, the proposed Goodyear travel center would have 120 fueling stations for passenger vehicles only. The concept would bring more than 200 full-time jobs to the area, starting pay well above minimum wage, full benefits, a 6% matching 401k, and three weeks of paid vacation.
Buc-ee’s travel centers are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
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