Buc-ee’s wanted its 1st NC store to be in Orange County. How did it end up in Alamance?
Mebane wasn’t the first choice when Buc-ee’s came to North Carolina looking for a place to build its first massive travel center and gas station in the state.
The Texas-based chain famous for Beaver Nuggets and spotless bathrooms will break ground at 10 a.m. Wednesday just off Exit 152 on Interstates 85/40 in Mebane.
The 74,000-square-foot store could open by the end of 2027, with 120 gas pumps, 650 parking spots and 24 EV charging sites. It could create at least 200 full-time jobs, and bring in roughly $1.8 million in annual sales tax revenues and approximately $120,300 in annual property tax revenues for the city and county.
While Alamance County wasn’t the company’s first choice, Buc-ee’s regrouped after hitting bumps in neighboring Orange County, where residents and leaders spurned the company’s advances.
Here are five things to know about that failed bid:
1. Concerns about the size
Orange County commissioners told Buc-ee’s a 64,000-square-foot travel center with 120 gas pumps proposed between Exit 160 and Exit 161 in Efland was too large, even after the company eliminated a 185-foot-long car wash.
The project — dubbed the “Efland Station” — also could have included a 120-room hotel and over 148,000 square feet of manufacturing, office, retail and restaurant space. The $40 million project was expected to generate up to $1 million in local property and sales tax revenues in the first phase.
The Orange County commissioners voted 5-2 to demand a significant reduction in scale along with fewer pumps and a smaller 24-foot sign instead of the proposed 80-foot one.
2. Fears of environmental damage
Two streams on the Efland site sat in a protected watershed draining into Sevenmile Creek, and the Center for Biological Diversity and Eno River Association raised alarms about storing 240,000 gallons of fuel underground near critical wildlife habitat.
3. Clash with sustainability goals
The Orange County Commission for the Environment recommended denial, noting the project conflicted with the county’s Paris Climate Accord pledge to cut carbon emissions 80% and move to 100% renewable energy by 2050, as detailed in the original development plans.
The site would have required limited road improvements, because of the existing on- and off-ramps. In Alamance County, the N.C. Department of Transportation already has a $38.7 million project in progress to add lanes, stoplights and a wider bridge over the interstate. Buc-ee’s is covering $10 million of the cost.
4. Organized community opposition
Residents formed A Voice for Efland & Orange, gathered thousands of petition signatures and packed public hearings, with one resident calling Buc-ee’s a “garish, outlandish, oversize Texas gas station” that violated the county’s core values.
5. Not the right fit
Buc-ee’s withdrew its application in February 2021, with real estate director Stan Beard telling the Planning Department that “Orange County is just not the right fit for Buc-ee’s“ — and the 100-acre site is now slated for an 886,240-square-foot industrial park.
Buc-ee’s still has some critics
The opposition to the travel center hasn’t gone away.
Mebane’s city council unanimously approved the Alamance County project and rezoning in January 2024, with the store landing on 32 acres at Exit 152 off Interstates 85/40, about eight miles west of the failed Orange County site.
Dozens of Orange County residents have criticized the decision, joined by the Indigenous-led 7 Directions of Service and the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network. The groups released a report citing concerns about 23,000 gallons of daily water use, air pollution and impacts on historic Native American trading paths used by the Catawba, Occaneechi and Waxhaw peoples.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.
This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 12:20 PM.
