After nearly a year of negotiations, it appears a QuikTrip travelmart will be guaranteed for Henryetta.
The project has been held up waiting for authorization from the state and federal government to get access from the highway.
qt logoThe project was first announced last spring and will be located on the east side of town along US 75.
Since the initial announcement was made, QuikTrip and city officials have been working with state leaders and Oklahoma Department of Transportation ot get the necessary easements and land for the facility. Much of those negotiations have been obtaining the entrance and exits from the highway.
Those negotiations included work from State Sen. Roger Thompson as well as Congressman Markwayne Mullin’s liaison William Barnes. “We appreciate their help along the way. They were instrumental in getting this for our town,” said mayor Jennifer Clason.
Clason said some 50,000 vehicles cross the intersection of I-40 and the Indian Nation Turnpike and US 75 each day. “They (QuikTrip) expect to pull in the traffic that, for the most part, would never even notice us.”
The new travelmart is expected to cover some 6,000 square feet and would include room for commercial vehicles and automobiles. The sales store would be about 5,000 square feet and company officials said between 25 and 40 people would be employed there.
The initial announcement about QuikTrip’s interest in the site was made at a Henryetta Economic Development Authority meeting last spring. Company officials were asking for a sales tax rebate for three years. It would entail the city reimbursing QuikTrip three of the four cents in sales taxes each year. At the end of the three years, the city would receive the full four cents in sales taxes.
“That is still expected to generate more sales tax revenue for the town,” Clason said. Since 2008, sales taxes have generated an average of $200,000 each month.
No date was given for work to be started on the new store.
QuikTrip is headquartered in Tulsa and currently has over 700 gasoline and convenience stores in 11 states. Some 18,600 people work for the company.