VIENNA, VA — Vienna officials were on hand to mark the start of construction on Wawa location at 465 Maple Avenue West on Tuesday, Sept. 24. Wawa, a convenience store with recent growth in the DC region, is expected to have the grand opening in April 2020.

The location will be over 6,300 square feet and be open 24 hours with around-the-clock food service. Instead of a traditional gas station, Wawa will have eight Tesla electric charging stations. The grand opening will feature a giveaway of a three-year Tesla lease. More details will be announced at a later time. The location, the former Coldwell Banker office, is Wawa's first-ever retrofit of an existing building. Brian Schaller, Wawa's senior vice president of real estate and fuel, told Patch a team has completed the design phase. Construction will take approximately 120 days.

The store's location is at the corner of Nutley Street and Maple Avenue West with entrances from each street. John Poplawski, Wawa's senior director of site acquisition and development, expects much of the customer base to come from traffic already on the roads. "We saw this space as an opportunity to reinvest in a space that was forgotten about," Poplawski told Patch about the location choice.

Del. Mark Keam, who represents Vienna in the Virginia House of Delegates, said the Wawa store is "exactly what we need in Northern Virginia and Vienna." The store will add Vienna to the network of Tesla charging stations. "People are going to come here because they can charge their cars," Keam said in remarks Tuesday.

Tesla electric chargers were chosen in place of the traditional gas pumps so the store could open in April 2020. Schaller says the process of opening the store would have taken longer if a gas station had been in the plans. Tesla chargers are already active at 20 Wawa sites.

A highlight of the construction kickoff was the unveiling of a cake made by Amphora Bakery. The cake incorporates detailed images from Wawa and Vienna.



Emily Leayman/Patch Tom Boyer, a regional real estate manager for Wawa, said three other locations are expected beyond the Vienna opening. Locations in Manassas, Sterling and Fairfax City could see construction underway in 2020.

Wawa's expansion goal in Northern Virginia calls for two to three new store openings per year and 40 new stores in 15 years.