Sac n Pac looks to construct mini-mall near downtown

Sac n Pac, the convenience store chain that began business in 1966 with one store on the corner of Hopkins and Moore streets in San Marcos and soon expanded to 17 other San Marcos outlets and 30 others in surrounding cities and counties before it was purchased two years ago by Susser Holding Corp,, the parent company of the Stripes convenience store chain, the 23^rd largest such chain in the country, will go before Kyle’s Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday seeking a conditional use permit to construct a 17,300-square-foot mall-type structure on the southbound service road of I-35 immediately across East Lockhart Street from the CVS Pharmacy at I-35 and Center Street.

Sac n Pac currently operates three stores in Kyle, one of which is under the Stripes banner and is located on the northbound I-35 service road just south of Kyle Parkway (20925 I-35). One Sac n Pac can be found a little further north at 19350 I-35. The third outlet is on Jack C. Hays Trail at Rebel Drive.

The traditional convenience store averages 2,800 square feet which means most of this property will be available for lease by other retailers. In fact, drawings accompanying the application indicate the building will house two sort-of anchor stores at either end (one of which I’m guessing will carry either the Sac N Sav or Stripes banner) and between three and six smaller outlets between them.

According to a staff presentation, the Planning and Zoning Commission is supposed to determine during their deliberations Tuesday if this mini-strip mall "will promote, preserve and enhance, and will not damage or detract from the distinctive character of the community; will preserve and protect property values and taxable values; will not be detrimental or inconsistent with neighboring uses and occupancies; will not be detrimental to the general interests of the citizens; and will not be detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare." If previous commissioners had no problem with the CVS in this regard, I can’t see how the current ones could argue against this mall. The commissioners, however, must also consider traffic flow, development density and neighboring historical designs.

The staff made no recommendation for or against approving the conditional use permit, but did list some issues it had with the proposal, although none of them were labeled "deal killers," by any stretch of the imagination. Those issues include:

• "Four-sided landscape would be preferable to the three-sided solution presented;"
• "A provision for onsite water quality/quantity management is preferable to the proposal for sheet flow as shown;"
• "A proper list of material types and specific colors would be preferable to the marketing renderings submitted;"
• "No lighting plan was submitted;"
• "No interior sidewalks (except alongside the building) or pedestrian refuge spaces are provided."

The building would be within the I-35 Overlay District, for what that’s worth.

Sac n Pac was started when one Garland Warren and his wife Janelle, while visiting friends in San Marcos in 1965, hit the city’s only convenience store right around its closing time to purchase milk for their babies. While at the store they noticed the manager setting a mousetrap on the counter and when they got home they discovered the milk’s sell-by date had long since passed. They immediately saw there was a need for something better and they returned the following year to open that first Sac n Pac store. Warren sold the stores in 1998 to his three children, Blair, Blake and Cheryl. Following Warren’s death in 2010, Cheryl and Blair bought out Blake’s interest. In January 2014 Susser Holding paid Cheryl and Blair $88 million for the stores and as well as its companion fuel provider, Warren Fuels, Ltd., which supplied gasoline and diesel fuel to the Sac n Pacs and other convenience stores and also served as a distributor for Exxon, Shell and Valero.