Buc-ee’s hoping to open South Mississippi location sooner than originally scheduled
Mississippi could get its first Buc-ee’s travel center on I-10 near Gulfport before the end of the year.
“Hopefully the site will be open by Thanksgiving,” Bill Lavers, executive director of the Harrison County Development Commission, said Friday.
The timeline isn’t an official announcement, he said, but came from Buc-ee’s as the goal they are working toward.
The opening estimate at the September groundbreaking was spring of 2025.
“The bridge should be finished by Oct. 10,” Lavers said.
Harrison County invested $15 million to rebuild the intersection at exit 24 of I-10. Work began in the summer of 2023. The Menge Avenue bridge over I-10 was demolished and a new overpass is being built. Entrance and exit ramps will be widened on I-10 and Firetower Road will be widened.
The new intersection will accommodate the extra traffic created by Buc-ee’s and other businesses that will locate in same area.
The $50 million Buc-ee’s in South Mississippi will be about 74,000 square feet, which Buc-ee’s founder Beaver Aplin said at the groundbreaking isn’t the biggest of the nearly 50 locations, but will be substantially bigger than many of the other locations.
“We’ll have 120 fueling positions here,” he said, and hook-ups for electric vehicles. The travel center is known for its clean restrooms, merchandise, Beaver Nuggets and other snacks, along with food to go.
At least 200 full-time jobs will be filled later this year, with starting pay beginning well above minimum wage, along with full benefits, a 6% matching 401k and three weeks of paid vacation.
This story was originally published January 27, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
