Wawa announces 7 future Louisville-area locations

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Wawa is coming to Louisville and surrounding areas in a big way.

On Tuesday, the gas station and convenience store chain announced four future locations in Louisville, as well as three additional sites in the Louisville area.

According to Lori Bruce, the senior manager for media relations for Wawa Inc., the four Louisville locations include:

9650 Preston Crossing Boulevard, near Cooper Chapel Road
7203 Apple Mill Drive, near the intersection with Outer Loop and Vaughn Mill
4213 Bardstown Road, near Fegenbush Lane
12415 Taylorsville Road, near the intersection with Sweeney Lane

Three additional locations are in the Louisville area:

Clarksville, Indiana: 1354 Veterans Parkway
La Grange, Kentucky: 2706 Kentucky 393
Mt. Washington: 415 Oakbrooke Drive

Wawa is a popular east coast gas station chain known for its sandwiches and cheap eats.

The chain says it plans to open about 40 stores across the Kentucky region in the next 8-10 years. The first groundbreakings are expected in the middle of next year, with the first stores scheduled to open in 2025. So far, Wawa has more than 15 sites under contract (including some of the sites listed above) across Boone, Bullitt, Fayette, Hardin, Jefferson, Jessamine, Oldham, Scott, Shelby and Warren Counties.

During Tuesday's news conference, the chain also committed to giving more than $22,000 in donations to Kentucky Special Olympics, Dare to Care Food Pantry and God's Pantry Food Bank.

"We were thrilled to share our 'flight plan' for Kentucky and reveal, for the very first time, our exciting expansion plans, renderings and more with our newest soon-to-be neighbors!" said Joe Collins, director of store operations for Wawa, in a statement. "Our Community Partnership Day events also gave us the opportunity to meet new faces and talk a little bit about hour history and what makes Wawa such an ideal fit for communities in this region. We can't wait to begin putting shovels into the ground next year!"

This story will be updated.