EMMAUS, Pa. — After over two years of waiting for a promised Turkey Hill convenience store, it appears the large lot at 602 Chestnut St. in Emmaus will have a different future.
There's a for-sale sign, first spotted by residents last week, now on the 1.22-acre property, along with a real estate listing by company CBRE.
Residents on social media often have expressed ire with the empty lot, given its central location near the borough's Triangle Park.
"I can only surmise that the influx of expansion by companies like Sheetz and Wawa is severely affecting the Turkey Hill bottom line. Now that the corporation is no longer based in Pennsylvania, I can only guess that their commitment to being local has also waned."Emmaus Borough Manager Shane Pepe
Borough Manager Shane Pepe said the entire property — what previously was three lots before combined — is for sale at $2.5 million.
"I can only surmise that the influx of expansion by companies like Sheetz and Wawa is severely affecting the Turkey Hill bottom line," Pepe said via email.
"Now that the corporation is no longer based in Pennsylvania, I can only guess that their commitment to being local has also waned.
"I wonder how much longer the one on Lehigh Street can survive with Sheetz next door and Wawa moving in down the street."
Representatives from CRBE and EG America, which owns Turkey Hill, did not respond to requests for comment.
How it got to this point
Pepe previously said the delay was because of turnovers of the property and increasing costs, as well as delays related to PennDOT permitting.
Last year, there still was some optimism that the project would come to fruition, but work on the site had to restart by January and did not.
Pepe said that since 2021, the Turkey Hill that existed on the lot at 602 Chestnut St. bought adjacent properties of former Rita's Italian Ice and storage buildings, preparing for an expanded location.
Turkey Hill rented the property on its original lot rather than owning it, and because of the convenience store chain being bought by EG America and the property owners having died, more work was needed.
Pepe said the convenience store company eventually attained the property for about $900,000 in 2022, while pursuing permits required for the project to continue.
Then before progress on the site stopped, aside from some intermittent changes.
A fence, some construction materials and early foundation work can be seen on the property.
