Buc-ee's One Step Closer To Building New Travel Center In Denton
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DENTON (CBSDFW.COM) - A fixture along Texas highways may have found its next home. Buc-ee's is one step closer to building a new travel center in Denton.
Tuesday night the Denton City Council approved an incentive package to build on a 38-acre site along Interstate-35E and Brinker Road, near the Golden Triangle Mall.
The first North Texas location opened in Terrell this past June. As for the Denton project, the proposed Buc-ee's property is zoned for commercial use, but developers wanted tax incentives. The $8 million plan was approved in a 5-2 Denton City Council vote.
Community members, for and against the mega-convenience store, had a lot to say at the meeting. Buc-ee's supporters are hoping the location will bring tourism to the area and draw other successful businesses.
Property owner Sparky Pearson said, "I look at it more like this is a good use for what has been planned long-term. So, I don't look at it as a residential area. There are no inlet roads into the residential [area] from here. There's beautiful buffers… and it's just going to be a wonderful place to be."
Residents who live by the proposed location said they're worried the store will hurt property values. More than two-dozen homeowners share property lines with the project, and many of the homes are within a few hundred feet of the mega travel store.
Back in 2014, the city of Corinth rejected a Buc-ee's proposal, just five minutes to the south of the proposed Denton location.
If everything goes as planned, the Denton Buc-ee's would join 36 other locations across Texas.
While construction on the project is more than a year away from breaking ground, the store isn't expected to open until 2018 when work on the I-35E Express project is finished.
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