Mid-Ohio Valley Foundations – Retail: ParMar HQ coming to Marietta slowly but surely

MARIETTA -- Three years ago, the Marietta Riverside Project was presented to Marietta City Council along with the announcement of a new Par-Mar Oil Headquarters within the fourth ward.

The Par-Mar HQ project slowly but surely continues the work to make their permanent home in Marietta.

Par-Mar Oil has been located in Marietta since 1967 and was named for the city, according to Par-Mar Oil Company, dba Par-Mar Stores, President Brian Waugh.

"We're named after the city," he said. "Marietta is our city and we want to be here."

The Marietta Riverside Project was proposed to include a 14,000 square foot office building, where the Par Mar Oil headquarters will be relocated; retail space; a restaurant; convenience store; and a Dunkin Donuts.

Work began at Franklin Street, Lancaster Street, Gilman Avenue and Putnam Avenue for the new headquarters last December. Houses sold for the project were torn down and debris was removed to prepare the ground for site work.

The ground was stabilized using around 18,000 cubic yards of dirt to raise portions of the property to get it out of the floodplain, according to Mayor Josh Schlicher.

Schlicher says that the developers of the project have not submitted any land development permits as of right now and that he does not have a time frame for the project, but that the actual work on the building should start sometime this year.

"They have not submitted anything, but they just demoed the site, did site cleaning, stabilized the ground, and put fencing around the site," said Schlicher.

"We haven't received a permit from them yet, but we should see development sometime soon this year."

The new Marietta Riverside Project is projected to create around 80-100 new jobs for the area.

Gretchen Dowler can be reached at gdowler@newsandsentinel.com