Luke, based in Hobart, Ind., recently acquired a BP gas station at Mississippi Street and U.S. 30 and plans to replace it with a Luke-brand station, Ryan Richardson, vice president of development, told the newspaper.
The oil company also purchased a 150-foot [image-nocss] parcel east of the existing station. Richardson said the Luke station will feature a 4,000-square-foot convenience store and a 3,400-square-foot car wash, and it will employ 20 full- and part-time workers.
Plans for the station were discussed during a preliminary hearing by the Hobart Plan Commission on Thursday. Commissioners supported Luke's plans to combine both parcels into a one-lot subdivision but expressed concern about the impact it might have on the area.
Commissioner Bob Fulton said he thought the station's Mississippi entrance might slow U.S. 30 traffic turning north onto Mississippi Street. Richardson said the Indiana Department of Transportation is reviewing the site plan for the station.
The proposed station is one of three scheduled to be built in Hobart in the next 12 months. The company also plans to open Luke stations near the intersection of U.S. 6 and County Line Road and 37th Avenue and North Lake Park Avenue, according to the newspaper.
In November, Luke Oil acquired 12 Shell locations from RM Petroleum, an independent petroleum distributor in Lake County, Ind., launching Luke Oil's expansion. "[The acquisition] has allowed us to become the premier Shell jobber in Lake and Porter counties ... and it provides us a good platform to move into the Chicago market," Tom Collins, vice president of Luke Oil told CSP Daily News at the time.
The deal brought Luke Oil's total of Shell stores in the area to 22. The firm planed to operate five of the new sites, while the remaining seven were to be run by tenants.
Luke also announced in November its intention to complete another two-site acquisition by the end of 2008, and continue its pace to open three new locations under development by the end of the year. "We have an experienced management team and the proper financial capabilities in place to continue our growth strategy within the Great Lakes region," Collins said.
Family owned since 1967, Luke Oil is a regional wholesaler serving more than 100 dealers in and around the Chicago area. The company operates 25 retail locations and 10 car wash facilities. Originally a heating fuel supplier, Luke became a fuel jobber in Northwest Indiana in the early 1980s.
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