The mayor, a company president and a beaver stood shoulder-to-shoulder wielding shovels on Wednesday.
With a few scoops of dirt, they opened the door for millions of dollars in tax revenue for the county and local schools.
In that moment, they broke ground on the site of Auburn’s $45 million Buc-ee’s location off Exit 50 as state politicians, local business and tourism officials and Buc-ee’s representatives looked on.
“Almost 10 years ago, we opened this interchange with a lot of help from our congressional delegation (and) we thought it’d be a great new gateway into our city,” said Auburn Mayor Ron Anders to the audience of city staff and state leaders. “Today, we’re pleasantly surprised at its first customer out here.”
The future Buc-ee’s is set to be located on Cox Road off Exit 50 on I-85 as the chain’s third store in Alabama.
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Anders said city officials anticipate $2.6 million dollars to be generated in tax revenue from Buc-ee’s that will support Lee County, Auburn City Schools, Lee County Schools, East Alabama Health and the Lee County Youth Development Center. He said Buc-ee’s aims to allocate $50,000 toward the City of Auburn intended to be donated to various nonprofit organizations.
“This business is the culture that we want in our community, (because) when we grow we want things to be a great fit,” Anders said. “(This area) will now become a major gateway into Auburn as people go down Cox Road for game day here in just 72 hours and to go back and forth on their daily travels.”
Arch “Beaver” Aplin, president and co-founder of Buc-ee’s, was present to deliver remarks about his company’s expansion into Lee County, which will be the chain’s sixth truck stop outside its homeland of Texas.
“It warms my heart to see so many people come out, show up and be excited for a development like this,” Aplin said to the crowd. “When I first came here, this place looked a little different … but my team had the foresight to see what this could look like, cleaned up and I think you all had the foresight to engage with us.”
Aplin told attendees he was first drawn to Auburn when he met City Manager Megan Crouch at the groundbreaking for the chain’s store in Leeds, who sought to see a truck stop realized for the Plains.
Ward 8 Councilperson Tommy Dawson, who represents the area of the city to feature Buc-ee’s, told the Opelika-Auburn News he and other council members were “very, very excited” to see the chain come to Auburn.
“I want to commend our staff and the job they did in attracting the company to Auburn,” he said. “I think it’s a win-win situation for Auburn and Buc-ee’s together. I think it’s going to be a great fit, and I’m just happy for our citizens. Auburn’s a great place and to attract a company of this caliber is unbelievable.”
He said he has not had the opportunity to visit an existing Buc-ee’s.
“My wife went to the beach a few months ago and she went and fell in love with (Buc-ee’s),” Dawson said. “I’m a little worried about how much money she may spend down here when it comes up.”
Each Buc-ee’s truck stop includes dozens of gas pumps, a car wash and a store with homemade jerky, the chain’s corn puffs branded Beaver Nuggets and fudge. The chain’s beaver mascot features heavily throughout the store on clothing and souvenirs.
The 53,000 square-foot Auburn Buc-ee’s location is scheduled to be completed and opened between 12-16 months after construction begins. It will welcome 175 full-time positions to the Auburn area, with salaries beginning at $17 per hour with dental, health and 401k benefits as well as three weeks of annual paid time off.
Those interested in pursuing a job at the future Buc-ee’s may visit www.buc-ees.com and apply under the careers tab.