Buildings at East and Seventh streets will be razed within the week for the first of several Sheetz gasoline and convenience stores in Parkersburg. Demolition contractor is Bosley Construction. (Photo by Jess Mancini)

PARKERSBURG — Demolition will begin within the week for the first of several Sheetz gasoline and convenience stores in Parkersburg, officials said.

Contractors have fenced off the 1.9-acre site at Seventh and East streets in the area of the former McHappy’s pastry shop where eight or nine buildings will be demolished, Jared Decker, leasing and development associate for the Paramount Development Corp. Decker is managing the project.

“This could be at the end of the week,” Decker said.

Paramount Development acquired and is preparing the land to be turned over to Sheetz to begin construction of the facility. Demolition will take about two weeks and construction of the store could begin around middle to late summer, Decker said.

The site is one of three in Parkersburg so far announced by Sheetz.

The company also is building stores on Third Street across from Matheny Motors and at the former Ralph’s Market site at Pike Street and 24th Avenue in south Parkersburg.

About 2 of the 4 acres at Pike Street and 24th Avenue will be for Sheetz and the remaining half will be a retail development, according to Holmes R. “Butch” Shaver of Berkshire Hathaway. The agreement for the former Ralph’s Market was the latest and was reached with Forth’s Foods Inc. earlier this year.

Sheetz also is looking at additional sites in Parkersburg, of which one is a specific location in the area of the Traffic Circle.

Demolition contractor for the Seventh and East street properties is Bosley Construction of Parkersburg. Paramount Development was pleased a Parkersburg company got the job, Decker said.

“We were very happy to award the contract to the Bosley family, a local outfit,” said Decker, who is from Parkersburg. Bosley is “great to work with” and well versed in demolition, he said.

City hall also is anxious for the demolition to begin, construction to start and the store opening, said Rickie Yeager, development director for the city of Parkersburg.

“We’re looking forward to that project,” he said.

Sheetz, based in Altoona, Pa., a community near Pittsburgh, was founded by Bob Sheetz in 1952. The second store opened in 1963, the third in 1969 and more than 100 by 1983.

The company now operates more than 550 stores in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina and employs more than 17,500 people.