Plans for a new location for Kwik Star in Toledo were submitted to the city of Toledo at Monday’s council meeting. The new location will be just to the east and south of the current location which is the where Thys Chevrolet was located. Darvin Graham/News Chronicle

Plans for future relocation of one of Toledo’s major convenience stores recently took steps forward.

Kwik Trip, Inc., owners of the Kwik Star gas station and convenience store on Business Highway 30 in Toledo submitted a site plan review to the city of Toledo for a proposed new location to be constructed at 1002 South County Road, the former location of Thys Chevrolet auto dealership.

Before the council on April 26 was a recommendation from the Toledo Planning and Zoning Commission to rezone the empty lot directly behind and west of the Thys auto lot from Light Industrial zoning to Business District zoning.

The empty lot is owned by Paul Chyma. The zoning application submitted to the city indicates Chyma has an offer pending from Kwik Trip to acquire the lot that would be combined with the Thys lot in the final project.

The council approved the zoning change recommendation Monday, paving the way for the project acquisition and development process to continue.

Kwik Trip Real Estate Development Manager Wade DuMond told the council construction of the project had not been scheduled yet but it was expected sometime in the 2022 construction season.

Should be the property acquisitions be finalized, the convenience store chain will still need to submit a building permit to the city before ground breaking could occur.

Demolition and clean up at the Thys property has slowly progressed this year after a lawsuit filed by owner Joel Thys against Federated Insurance was dropped in January.

Within the site plan submitted to the city, Kwik Trip outlined details of their proposed project.

Fuel stations would see an upgrade from the current six-dispenser canopy to a 10-dispenser canopy. Diesel fuel would be added, along with a CAT Scale.

The building aesthetic for the proposed project would be similar to the company’s newest locations with full brick cladding around the exterior, extensive landscaping and stucco accents.

The site plan also said the project would be a multi-million dollar investment to the community and would employ approximately 25 to 30 workers.

With steady traffic along the Highway 63 and Highway 30 intersection in Toledo, the customer traffic going in and out of the current Kwik Star has, at times, suffered from congestion with limited parking and a relatively shallow setback from the road as two contributing factors.

Toledo’s Kwik Star is the only Kwik Trip, Inc. business located in Tama County with the closest locations in Marshalltown and in Brooklyn near Interstate 80.

According to the company website, Kwik Trip, Inc. opened 11 new Iowa locations in 2020 with stores in Vinton and Story City as nearby comparables.