A new Smart Stop convenience store is headed to 19806 Panther Drive in Pflugerville, and the project is bigger than a typical gas station stop. State filings show the $1.5 million development will total 8,650 square feet, with room not just for the convenience store but for two additional retail tenants yet to be named.
The filing was made with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, according to Community Impact, which first reported the plans. Per the filing, construction is set to begin in December and wrap up by December 2027. Smart Stop already operates locations in Leander, Round Rock, and Hutto, offering gas pumps, snacks, drinks, alcoholic beverages, and a coffee and hot food bar, per the company's website.
The Pflugerville site itself has an interesting backstory. MLS records show the 3.87-acre parcel sold commercially in March for $3.7 million, a dramatic shift for land that had been a single-family residential ranch property built in 1990, according to records reviewed by Strub Residential.
Why This Corner of Panther Drive Is Suddenly Valuable
Part of the appeal is location. Real estate listing documents note that 19806 Panther Drive sits within Pflugerville's Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction, meaning it faces no city zoning restrictions, and it's positioned right next to the State Highway 130 and State Highway 45 toll road interchange, with access via Kelly Lane, as detailed by a listing on Realtor.com. That combination of loose zoning and toll-road frontage has made the corridor increasingly attractive for commercial builders.
State filings identify SR Joint Ventures LLC, a Cedar Park-based company with Saiyad Maknohia listed as its primary contact, as the owner and developer behind the Panther Drive project. The firm isn't stopping in Pflugerville. It also registered a separate project in February for Smart Stop Parkside, a 5,000-square-foot convenience store at 5501 RM 2243 in Georgetown estimated at $1.5 million, per project records filed with the state.
Smart Stop's alcohol sales in the region operate under Reagan 245 Operating LLC, which holds Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission retail permits and is managed by Samir Maredia, Imran Sunesara, Moiz Maknojia, and Saiyad Maknojia, according to public notices published in the Williamson County Sun. The brand has also registered a separate 4,969-square-foot store project in Williamson County at 13306 North FM 620 Road SB, budgeted at roughly $2 million, showing a pattern of steady expansion across North Austin and its suburbs.
City Utility Plans Are Already Catching Up
Pflugerville's own infrastructure planning suggests city officials are anticipating more of this kind of growth along the corridor. The city's Fiscal Year 2026 Capital Improvement Program outlines extending 15-inch wastewater utility interceptor lines along Panther Loop and Panther Drive to accommodate incoming commercial and flex industrial development in the Pflugerville Acres area, according to city budget documents.
The Smart Stop filing wasn't an isolated blip on the radar of Austin-area development trackers, either. Regional construction permit summaries reported this week listed the Pflugerville project among five major commercial TDLR filings across the metro area, alongside a $700 million data center in Cedar Creek and a $101 million Austin Community College building in Kyle, as noted by CultureMap Austin.
What's Still Unknown About the Panther Drive Site
Several questions remain open as the project moves forward. It's not yet clear which retail or food tenants will fill the two additional spaces inside the 8,650-square-foot building, when Travis County will clear local building permits, or how traffic will flow at the Panther Drive and toll road frontage road intersection once the store draws customers after construction wraps up in late 2027.
For context on how these suburban convenience stores perform once open, commercial leasing listings show that existing Smart Stop retail centers, including one paired with an Exxon station on North Interstate 35 in Round Rock, target trade areas serving nearly 80,000 residents within a three-mile radius. If the Pflugerville location follows that model, it could become a high-traffic fixture for drivers using the SH 130 and SH 45 interchange well before the two mystery retail tenants ever open their doors.
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