Coulson seeks OK to rebuild Little Rock store

Coulson Oil is asking Little Rock for permission to expand the Shell Station on South Broadway and rebrand it as a Road Runner. This artist rendering shows how the facility would look.
Coulson Oil is asking Little Rock for permission to expand the Shell Station on South Broadway and rebrand it as a Road Runner. This artist rendering shows how the facility would look.

Coulson Oil Co. is seeking permission to expand and upgrade the Shell convenience store at 800 Broadway, a project that includes adding landscaping and moving the fuel pumps away from one of downtown Little Rock's busiest thoroughfares.

"One of the things we wanted to solve was to make it easier for our customers to be able to access the store," John Harris, president and chief executive officer of Coulson Oil, said Tuesday. "So we're putting the store fronting Broadway and putting the fueling canopy on the back side of the store, which is a little unconventional."

That would mean moving the pumps from the east and north sides of the building to the west.

The expanded facility -- which is to be re-branded Road Runner -- would occupy most of the block bounded by Broadway on the east, West Ninth Street on the south, South Arch Street on the west, and West Eighth Street on the north, according to drawings provided by Harris.

The other two structures on the block would remain standing, Harris said.

One is a former Back Yard Burgers restaurant that is no longer in operation. Harris said Coulson had attempted unsuccessfully to buy the building from its current owners.

The other is the Martin Building at 518 W. Ninth Street. That building is owned by Coulson but won't be torn down to accommodate expansion of the convenience store, Harris said.

The project is scheduled to go before the Little Rock Planning Commission's subdivision committee at noon today, where city staff and others will comment on the plan. Coulson will have one week to respond, and the staff will then make a recommendation to the full commission.

The project plans call for increasing the convenience store from about 2,400 square feet to about 4,500 square feet, doubling the number of gas pumps from four to eight, and increasing the staff from four to at least 10, Harris said. The hours of operation will remain 5 a.m.-midnight, Harris said, unless the store's sales justify an extension.

"It will be a really urban design," Harris said. "Very high ceilings, glass, steel and brick with a lot of different offerings than we are able to provide in a 2,400-square-foot store."

New items will include juices, smoothies, yogurts, salads and deli sandwiches, he said. Other food items are under consideration, Harris said, and the store will include an expanded soda fountain and more cooler space.

Harris declined to say how much Coulson planned to spend on the project, adding, "These are not inexpensive buildings to put up."

He said he hoped to begin construction in August and to reopen the store before year's end.

In 2014, Mapco abandoned plans to build a store at the intersection of Third and Broadway after critics said it would increase traffic in the area and detract from the appeal of the Robinson Center and the Pulaski County Courthouse.

Harris said he did not expect similar opposition to the Eighth and Broadway location, which is already occupied by a convenience store and is surrounded by fast food restaurants and other businesses.

West Ninth Street was once a vibrant, active community lined with businesses owned by blacks. The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, which preserves the history of the state's black community, sits across the street from the convenience store at 501 W. Ninth.

Quantia Fletcher, interim director of the center, said she was scheduled to discuss the project with Coulson representatives today.

"We've had a great relationship with them, and we would hope it would continue," Fletcher said.

The Martin Building was built in 1948, according to the city's Planning Commission staff.

It is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places, said Ralph Wilcox, national register/survey coordinator with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

"We understand the historical significance of that building," Harris said. "It will not be torn down."

The overhauled store would be Coulson's fourth Road Runner in Little Rock, Harris said, and is part of a strategic decision to expand its retail operations.

In the past, he said, Coulson owned convenience store locations but leased their operations to independent managers. It still has 108 such locations throughout Arkansas, he said.

Three years ago, Coulson decided to own and operate its own chain of stores, Harris said. Coulson bought two Road Runner stores in Texarkana and began expanding the chain, he said. Today there are 12, including stores in Conway, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Heber Springs, Hot Springs and Little Rock, he said.

Harris said Coulson hoped to add about three outlets annually.

"I don't know what number we get to" ultimately, he said. "Probably 25 is a number we keep tossing around here."

Business on 02/03/2016

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