In the Know: 7-Eleven getting extreme makeover in Naples

Q: What's going on at Seventh Avenue North and U.S. 41 with the 7-Eleven and Mobil gas station. They only just finished remodeling recently. Thank you for keeping us so informed.

— Sally Carr, Naples

Q: The former Hess gas station on Route 41 in downtown Naples was converted to a Mobil station, and the convenience store at that site was upgraded to a 7-Eleven. But now there is a construction fence around the whole property, and they appear to be undoing all those upgrades! Do you know what happened?

— Roy Nash, Naples

Q: What’s happening at the 7-Eleven and new Mobil station at Seventh Avenue North at the Trail? Construction fencing has gone up around both.

— Jo Scully, Naples

A: After the Speedway gas station and convenience store closed at the end of December 2016 on the southwest corner of U.S 41 and Seventh Avenue North in Naples, its two underground fuel tanks were replaced.

Last year that small corner lot at 697 Ninth St. N. was purchased by 7-Eleven, which temporarily operated a Mobil gas station there until plans and permits were approved by the city to merge its two adjoining properties into one business. The existing gasoline pump canopy and its eight fueling positions will remain in place during the renovation project. The pumps have been encased in plywood temporarily to protect them.

“They are moving along. They have permits, and they’re working their way at it,” said Craig Molé, the city’s chief building official and director of Building Services.

Since December 1984, The Southland Corp., the Dallas-based operator of the 7-Eleven chain, has owned the abutting small parcel at 860 Seventh Ave. N., where it has operated a freestanding store for more than 30 years. The 7-Eleven store recently was gutted in preparation for an interior redesign and substantial façade changes.

“It will look a lot nicer, obviously, inside and out,” said Dave Gardner, project manager for Creighton Construction & Development, the general contractor for the renovation.

To prepare for the merger of the longtime 7-Eleven store with the gas station, the 1,280-square-foot store between 7-Eleven and the fuel pumps was recently demolished. Before it was operated by Speedway, the little store was a Hess Express. Hess Corp. operated the store and station on the site from 2001-14, until the company sold its gas station network to Marathon Petroleum, which rebranded most Hess stations as Speedway.

So, rather than adding square footage, this latest project actually subtracts building space from that corner and proposes a unifying look and functionality for the two lots. The footprint of the 3,961-square-foot 7-Eleven store will not change, but its former corporate box look will be enhanced with architectural features designed by Naples-based MHK Architecture & Planning and approved in December by the Naples Design Review Board.

The project will modernize the old building, giving it frontage and customer entrances not just on Seventh Avenue North, but also facing U.S. 41. Peaked roofs over each entrance will provide small tower elements to break up the façade, plans show.

“It’s a very corner-oriented building,” architect Matthew Kragh said in his presentation to the city board in September.

“The proposed design will be a substantial betterment to the site and transition the existing structure away from ‘corporate architecture’ and more towards the Naples aesthetic,” city planner Leslee Dulmer wrote in her staff report to the Design Review Board.

“The proposed façade renovation will substantially enhance the aesthetics of the building, lending a little more elegance to the mundane functions of a gas station,” Dulmer wrote.

Most of the trees and shrubs on the properties will be removed, but new landscaping — a variety of trees, palms, shrubs and ground cover — will be added, plans show.

Local sculptor Ed Koehler was commissioned by the developer to create a piece of exterior wall art after the Design Review Board made a recommendation at a preliminary meeting last fall. The artwork will be added to the corner of the building facing Seventh Avenue.

“It’s going to be an aluminum, painted, internally lit sculpture of sea grapes growing on the side of the building,” Kragh said.

Creighton expects the new store will be ready to reopen before the end of the year.

“We’re shooting for possibly the middle or end of November,” Gardner said. “We’re working the best we can to move things along.”

7-Eleven also tapped Creighton to recently build the new location with a similar design nearby at the former Kwik Pik site at Goodlette-Frank Road and Fifth Avenue North in Naples. Creighton has completed several dozen other 7-Eleven stores throughout the country in recent years and has many more under construction in Florida and Texas.

Southland has proposed replacing other older 7-Eleven stores in the area with cleaner, nicer designs and adding locations to the 20 it already operates in Collier County.

Have a local question? Email it with your name and city of residence to intheknow@naplesnews.com. Tim Aten’s "In the Know" is published every Monday and Wednesday. Follow In the Know on Facebook now at facebook.com/timaten.intheknow.

To sign up for the new Breaking Ground newsletter, sent via email Thursday mornings, go to https://nplsne.ws/bgnewsletter.