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After sitting vacant for months, the site of the former Aerospace Museum at 24 Campground Road in the Manchester might soon be the home of one of the first Wawa Convenience Stores in Middle Tennessee.

A site plan for the store was presented to the Manchester Planning Commission during its meeting May 15.

During the meeting, developer Caroline Churchill, a civil engineer at Kimley-Horn, said she and property developer Hutton Real Estate Holdings, LLC. are excited to bring the Wawa, Pennsylvania based convenience store to Manchester.

“They have fresh food bars when you walk in. They are known for their hoagies and subs, their fresh coffee and have a variety of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks,” Churchill said.

Churchill said the location will also have fuel pumps.

The proposed location will have an approximately 5,900 square foot building, 16 fueling stations and will reuse all three access points on Campground Road and Hospitality Boulevard.

Wawa’s corporate public relations team declined to confirm the proposed Manchester site.

“While we can’t confirm specific locations or timelines for construction at this stage in the process, we can say that we are actively looking into potential sites for new Wawa stores that will open sometime after 2025,” Lori Bruce, Wawa’s senior manager of media relations, said.

The location originally sparked interest for a possible Chick-fil-A location, but the property was purchased from the county at auction in December 2022 for $2.5 million. A Chick-fil-A is currently under construction on the Hillsboro Highway in front of Home Depot.

CARMAX site drives forward

Developers for the CARMAX facility moved closer to breaking ground with the approval of its Manchester Industrial Park location site plan.

The Manchester Planning Commission approved the non-public auction and inventory management site that will include a 70,000 square foot service building and a 7,000 square foot auction building, a non-public carwash and fuel tanks.

Last November, The Manchester Board of Mayor and Alderman approved a purchase and sale agreement with CARMAX Auto Superstores for the sale of 27.86 acres at $15,000 per acre.

CARMAX intends to build a $25M inventory management center in the Manchester Industrial Park, near Great Lakes Cheese that will create 200-250 jobs with an average salary slightly over $50,000.