Sheetz is moving ahead with an $8.5 million store on Lapeer Road in Auburn Hills, even as a separate proposed location in Waterford Township sits frozen amid a political controversy over a county commissioner's consulting ties to the chain. The Pennsylvania-based gas station, convenience store, and restaurant chain plans to build its newest Michigan location at 3880 Lapeer Road, on a 3.18-acre parcel that has sat vacant for several years.
According to MLive.com, the Auburn Hills property previously housed a string of nightlife venues over the years, including Venue Bar and Grille, Post Bar, Ciccarelli's Sports Bar, Loft Cigar Room, Clubhouse 81 and GameTime. The site's history as a popular sports bar destination dates back further still: the parcel earlier operated as The Post Bar and later The Venue Bar and Grille, situated across from the former Palace of Auburn Hills, according to the City of Auburn Hills. Construction on the new Sheetz is expected to begin in 2027, per the same MLive report.
What The Auburn Hills Store Will (and Won't) Include
The approved plan calls for a 6,139-square-foot convenience store with an attached restaurant and a small outdoor seating area, along with 14 fuel pumps, but no drive-through option. City of Auburn Hills planning commission records from March indicate the location will employ 30 to 35 full-time workers and will not include fueling infrastructure or parking for large semi-trucks, with fuel for the site expected to be delivered from Sheetz's original Michigan store in Romulus.
To secure approval, Sheetz agreed to follow outdoor sign restrictions and limits on overnight parking, and promised to give $100,000 to the Auburn Hills Community Foundation for public purposes, the report notes. Gas stations are allowed in the site's C-4 zoning district with special site-plan approval. The Auburn Hills project is one piece of a much larger buildout: Sheetz has promised to build an estimated 60 stores across Michigan, part of a $500 million investment the chain outlined when it opened its first Michigan location in Romulus in 2024, according to FOX 2 Detroit.
Waterford Township Plans Frozen Amid Ethics Fallout
While the Auburn Hills project moves toward construction, Sheetz's plans for a Waterford Township location tied to two long-vacant medical office buildings on Highland Road remain on hold. The Highland Road site sits in front of Oakland County International Airport and along the western side of Patterson Parkway. Waterford Township officials had already approved rezoning the properties at 6600 and 6620 Highland Road from general office to extensive business specifically to accommodate a Sheetz location.
Those plans were put on hold after revelations involving Oakland County Commission Chairman Dave Woodward, who worked as a paid consultant for Sheetz. An investigative report from WXYZ Detroit revealed that the proposed Waterford site plan required a curb-cut easement onto county-owned Patterson Parkway while Woodward was on Sheetz's payroll, with the driveway that easement would have allowed connecting the store directly to airport access roads. Oakland County denied a request for that Patterson Parkway easement last year, and the county says it has received no new request and expects none, per MLive's reporting. Sheetz has not finalized a deal for the Highland Road site and currently has no new applications or proposals pending there, according to a company statement cited in the same report. The chain says it remains interested in bringing a new store to Waterford Township.
A Consultant's Conflict, and County Reforms That Followed
Woodward has maintained that his private contracting agreements do not interfere with his job as a county official. But the arrangement drew broader scrutiny after Axios Detroit reported that Woodward's private firm, Pivot Point Strategies, consulted for Sheetz while also providing campaign services to roughly a third of the Oakland County commissioners he oversaw. In October 2025, Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter introduced a broad transparency and ethics reform package for county officials, requiring midyear disclosure of outside income exceeding $10,000, following the public controversy over Woodward's Sheetz consulting work, according to Oakland County.
This isn't Sheetz's first stalled site in the Waterford area. The chain had applied for a location on Sashabaw Road more than two years ago before withdrawing that plan because the site sat too close to the Clinton River. Elsewhere in the region, Sheetz has run into different obstacles: the Madison Heights City Council unanimously denied special land-use approval for a proposed store at Dequindre and 13 Mile roads in May 2024 after residents raised concerns about 24-hour traffic, noise, and lighting, according to C & G Newspapers. And in February, Sheetz paused its expansion plans in Sterling Heights after that city's planning commission rejected a concept plan, citing traffic impacts and an oversaturation of area gas stations, the outlet also reported.
Part of a Broader Michigan Rollout
The Auburn Hills and Waterford Township sites are the latest entries in Sheetz's aggressive push across Southeast Michigan, where the chain operates more than 750 stores nationwide across states including West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, North Carolina and Michigan. Just last month, Hoodline reported the chain's newest Macomb Township store had brought its statewide count to roughly 20 locations, with more on the way. And weeks before that, Sheetz opened a round-the-clock store at South Lapeer and West Silverbell roads in neighboring Orion Township, further filling in its footprint along the Lapeer Road corridor in northern Oakland County.
The expansion has not come without economic friction beyond the political controversy. Independent gas station owners organized through local business associations in late 2024 to raise concerns that large chains like Sheetz could undercut small-business fuel prices across Metro Detroit, according to CBS News Detroit. For now, Auburn Hills residents can expect groundbreaking next year, while the fate of the Waterford Township store remains tied to how the county's ethics questions play out.
