By Hannah Lester
hlester@opelikaobserver.com
Auburn is ready for beaver nuggets, the famous brisket and all the amenities of a local Buc-ee’s.
The gas station, which is more of an experience than a convenience store, will not open until Fall 2022, but last week Buc-ee’s and the city of Auburn broke ground on the site.
Buc-ee’s will be located off Exit 50 on Interstate 85.
“What a fantastic and exciting day it is in Auburn, Alabama,” said Auburn Mayor Ron Anders. “What a beautiful day it is and our community is thrilled to have this tent here and to be celebrating the groundbreaking of Buc-ee’s.”
The benefits of Buc-ee’s will affect the whole city, Anders said, from the 175 new positions that will open, to the $50,000 Buc-ee’s is donating to local nonprofits.
“It 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,” he said. “We estimate $2.6 million will come to the city of Auburn, Auburn City Schools, Lee County, Lee County Schools, East Alabama Health and the Lee County Youth Development Center.”
Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, owner of Buc-ee’s, said that the chain’s first out-of-state (Texas) location was in Alabama, and that he likes having locations in Alabama.
“I knew right away that y’all would be a great community to work with and that’s proven to be the case,” he said. “And, I got to tell you, life’s too short to try to do projects in communities that don’t want to work with you. So thank y’all for being so pro-business.”
The location will take a year to complete, following the groundbreaking Wednesday.
“We’ll work hard, and we’ll work with the city and my promise to you guys is that we’re going to build a great project, and we’ll be great neighbors and great members of the community and we’re going to provide great wages to 175, and I suspect it will be more than that by the time it all clears out,” Aplin said.
Auburn Council Members, Chamber of Commerce Members, elected officials and more were all in attendance for the groundbreaking, along with a special guest, Buc-ee the Beaver.
“This business is the culture that we want in our community,” Anders said. “When we grow, we want things to be a great fit. Buc-ee’s will be a great fit for Auburn.”