Wawa is planning a store and gas station near Amazon's warehouse

See correction at end of article.

Wawa Inc. is planning to expand its regional presence with a store and gas station on a patch of former city-owned land at the corner of Boston and Ponca streets in the city's southeast industrial area.

The 1.7-acre site is across the street from a Royal Farms gas station and store; both sit in close proximity to the new Amazon.com Inc. warehouse complex on Broening Highway and Holabird Avenue. According to documents submitted to the planning department, the Wawa site is being developed to easily handle large trucks, indicating the company expects to benefit from increased truck traffic accessing the Amazon warehouse.

But aside from truck drivers, the new store is likely to generate excitement among fans of the Pennsylvania-based company's sandwiches. The company is known for its extensive sandwich menu, available 24 hours a day and served on Amoroso sub rolls, the same Philadelphia bread company preferred by Philly Cheesesteak stands in the city.

Wawa is also the second-most-loved brand among convenience stores, according to a study released by Market Force Information last month. The store ranked high for food, cleanliness and coffee.

Located at 4901 Boston St., the 5,600-square-foot Wawa would sit on land that was once known as the "Exxon-Mobil Tank Farm," part of a sprawling 80-acre petroleum depot that also included land to the west that is now home to the Shops at Canton Crossing. The city owned the portion of land at 4901 Boston St. because it had planned to install a highway ramp on the site, according to a 2012 Baltimore Brew report.

According to state property records, DMS Ponca LLC, which is part of DMS Development LLC of Towson, purchased the land for $109,116 in 2013. Planning Department records show Wawa representatives and Michael Ertel and Wendy Crites of DMS met with city officials to plan how the site will be laid out.

Kevin Litten covers Commercial Real Estate and Economic Development