PORT ANGELES — The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe is expanding its economic reach in a $3 million convenience store-gas station project on U.S. Highway 101 and Dry Creek road about 2 miles from the city.
Lower Elwha Food & Fuel will open by May 16, tribal CEO Michael Peters said Friday.
It’s being built by PNE Corp. of Longview.
“What people are seeing now is the canopy structure is up, and we’re starting to frame the c-store,” he said.
Peters said the tribe made a strong commercial move when the $4 million Elwha River Casino was completed on Stratton Road in March 2009.
Development step
“Other than the casino, this is kind of the first step to economic development,” he said.
Six pumps, including two for trucks and RVs, will offer unbranded gas at the approximately 15-acre tribal trust land site at 4821 Dry Creek Road.
It’s on the same parcel as the Elwha Police Department.
“It will have, like any convenience store, a whole array of drinks, soft drinks, a few things you can grab and go,” Peters said.
Quick-serve food and deli sandwiches will be there for the buying.
The store also plans to offer cigarettes at prices lower than nontribal stores and beer and wine at a comparable cost.
“It will be pretty modest on the inside,” Peters added.
Highway 101 traffic
The tribe hopes to capture traffic on U.S. Highway 101 traveling west from Port Angeles to the West End and east into the city.
Peters said the facility meets all federal and local codes but is not subject to county development requirements because it lies on land held in trust for the tribe by the federal government.
He said the tribe conducts all inspections except for the electric system, the job of state Labor & Industries
“Some tribes have inspectors in-house; some tribes contract it out,” he said.
“Each tribe does things a little bit different.”
Peters said Lower Elwha Food & Fuel’s entrance and exit will be from Dry Creek Road.
The gas station-convenience store will lie between Port Angeles, where U.S. Highway 101 turns into West Lauridsen Boulevard, and the junction with state Highway 112.
Cara Mitchell, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, said Friday that average daily volume in 2014 on 101 east of the junction was 3,700 vehicles.
Peters said there’s more than enough business to go around despite other area gas station-convenience stores, including the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe’s Longhouse Market & Deli east of Sequim.
“There’s a ton of business that goes by Port Angeles, and so the competition for us and for other people is from the Longhouse all the way over to Forks,” he said.
“Everyone is trying to have an impact and to pull off that tourist trade, and we are going to be one of those, and we want to be one of those.
“We want the locals to come in, too.
“The more we can get people to drop money in the greater Port Angeles area, the better economy the region has.”
Employ 12 to 20
Peters said Lower Elwha Food & Fuel will employ between 12 and 20 workers, depending on the season and how fast business grows.
He added that the tribe is working with Clallam County on Dry Creek Road widening improvements planned for 2017.
Joe Swordmaker, the county road department’s lead right-of-way agent, did not return calls for comment Friday.
Peters said one goal of the tribal store is to train and hire tribal members.
“That’s an important part of our mission, but it will be a mix of tribal and nontribal,” he said.
Depending on how well the store does, additional pumps could be added, Peters said.
More economic development is planned on the parcel.
Peters said it’s just a question of when.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
