Kwik Trip plans moving forward in Marathon City

Marathon City officials are moving ahead with plans to locate a Kwik Trip gas station and truck stop at the future intersection leading into the village’s new business park north of STH 29.

Dax Connely, real estate manager for Kwik Trip, met with the village’s planning commission and board of trustees last week Wednesday to discuss plans for a store along STH 107, just north of the STH 29 interchange at what will one day be a four-corner intersection with Otter Falls Trail to the west and a new frontage road going east.

The 10,000-square-foot travel center, which will be built on a 12.7-acre site on the east side of STH 107, will serve local customers, travelers and truck drivers passing by on STH 29. Scheduled for completion in 2024, the facility will be open 24 hours a day and offer 35 stalls for overnight semi-trailer parking, Connely said.

Village administrator Andy Kurtz said Kwik Trip’s plans line up well with the village’s business park expansion, which includes construction of a frontage road that will run along the north side of the travel center and connect STH 107 with North 152nd Avenue. He said the new road will “open up roughly 150plus acres to development,” most of which is located within village limits.

With the village board voting last week to solicit bids for infrastructure improvements in the new business park, Kurtz expects work to start in April on road construction and utility extensions. The plan is to begin work on the west end of the project area, which is where the frontage road to Kwik Trip will be built.

Based on the amount of truck traffic already going to and from local companies, Kurtz said the travel center will be a complementary addition to the village.

“A truck stop is a great fit,” he said. “Along the 29 corridor, there really isn’t a significant truck stop readily available between here and Wausau, so this will be a good stopping point.”

According to Kwik Trip, the travel center project represents a “multi-million dollar investment” in the village, with the expected addition of 30 to 40 jobs and a projected annual payroll of $600,000.

Connely said the travel center is a “newer generation” model, which includes a truckers’ lounge, four showers, booths and tables, in addition to the gasoline, groceries and fast food available to customers. The site will include 20 gas station fueling spots, three diesel lanes on a separate island and 46 regular parking spaces.

As trucking becomes more important due to online shopping and product delivery, he said Kwik Trip is always looking for locations like Marathon City that have easy on-and-off access to major highways. At the same time, Connely said the company has been turning more of its convenience stores into small-scale grocery stores, with fresh products delivered every day.

When asked about a carwash, Connely said that’s not part of the current plans, but one could be added in the future if the demand exists. In response to another question, he said a charging station for electric vehicles is not planned for the travel center.

As part of the developer’s agreement being negotiated with the village, Connely said Kwik Trip is prepared to deposit $75,000 into an escrow account that could one day be used to help pay for stoplight installation at the intersection. A traffic study completed last year by the village called for lights to be included in the intersection’s original design, but the Wisconsin Department of Transportation rejected that recommendation.

With new apartments and other commercial developments going up in that area, Connely said he thinks traffic lights will be needed “faster than the DOT expects.”

Kurtz said the current DOT plans are to put stop signs on Otter Falls Trail and the new frontage road, but the intersection is designed to accommodate east-west traffic lights in the future. The DOT will not allow north-south traffic on STH 107 to be stopped at the intersection, he said, but the village has requested a reduction in the speed limit for that area, which is currently 45 miles per hour.

“That requires a speed study, which would be completed after the improvements are made,” he said, referring to the construction of a four-way intersection.

When asked about the potential impact on the village’s two existing gas stations, Kurtz said he doesn’t know what that will be.

“The market analysis is not something we typically get involved in,” he said.

After hearing from Kurtz and Connely, the planning commission voted to forward Kwik Trip’s site plans to the village board for review and approval.

Village board members met in closed session to discuss a proposed developer’s agreement with Kwik Trip, but no action was taken once they returned to open session. Kurtz said the village’s attorney will review the document and possibly make some changes before it is considered for approval at the board’s February 1 meeting.

In other business: The board voted to solicit bids for infrastructure improvements related to the village’s new business park expansion north of STH 29. The work includes an extension of Blue Stone Lane, going north under STH 29, along with water and sewer extensions and construction of a frontage road off of STH 107.

In addition, a new water line will be run across the Big Rib River and connect with 152nd Avenue via Maratech Avenue, and a lift station on Maratech will be replaced with a gravity collection line. Sewer laterals will also be installed along North Ridge Road, allowing homeowners there to hook up to the village system in the future. North Ridge Road itself will be totally reconstructed to address drainage issues and provide a blacktop surface.

The estimated cost of the work is $6.5 million, which will be covered by a revenue bond approved by the board last year.

The board approved a motion to use approximately $18,000 in Local Road Improvement Project (LRIP) funding from the state on a Third Street project this year. The money was left over from a $32,000 LRIP grant used to do work on Market Street. The money will be used to pay for asphalt on the portion of Third Street between Pine and Hemlock Street, Kurtz said.

Kurtz told the planning commission that construction is progressing on additional apartments at the Blue Stone Estates complex, with the goal of getting a new 16-unit building occupied by mid-year. At that point, the building contractor, S.C. Swiderski, will move to a location north of the current apartments along STH 29, where two more buildings will be put up. A total of 30 new apartment units will be added by the end of the project.

Kurtz said the state has authorized work to move forward on Oak Park Place, a 40-unit apartment complex north of STH 29 that will provide affordable housing to young workers. The village is working on a developer’s agreement, with the goal of getting construction started in the fall and the apartments occupied by mid-2024.