Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Friday that a new interchange coming to Interstate 75 in Marion County will provide the space for the state's next Buc-ee’s store. The store will be 80,000 square feet in size and there will be 120 fuel pumps and 720 parking spaces.
The interchange, which is funded by a $4 million transportation grant, will be constructed at I-75 and Northwest 49th Street. And the goal is to ease traffic and build a travel center. “When this interchange is completed, it will be completed at the same time we have an opening of the third Buc-ee’s in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis said he wants to “step on the gas” to construct what will also be the largest Buc-ee’s in Florida. Most Buc-ee's locations are in Texas, but there is one in Daytona Beach and St. Johns County.
“They make so much stuff. They have those beaver nuggets. They have all kind of barbecue that they make,” DeSantis said. “It’s basically like the Shangri-La of service stations when you go into a Buc-ee’s. And this one is going to be massive.”
The founder and CEO of Buc-ee’s, Arch “Beaver” Aplin, also spoke about choosing Marion County to put a Buc-ee’s store.
“We have had quite a lot of success in the two stores we have operating on I-95. We’ve known that I-75 would be a great interstate for a long time, looking for the right piece of property. So when we realized there was an opportunity, this entire new interchange would be created, then it really opened our eyes to the opportunities here,” Aplin said.
There is no timeline for completion on either project yet.