Construction is taking place on a new 4,000-square-foot AM/PM Mini Mart gas station on Service Road at Morgan Road.

The Ceres Planning Commission approved the convenience store application in May 2022, which also was packaged with a 58-unit apartment complex to the north of the store. To allow the development, the commission had to first approve the splitting of a 4.85-acre site into four different parcels; three to be used for the apartment complex and one for the store.

The AM/PM will include diesel and regular gas and two electric vehicle charging stations.

Located on the opposite corner to the east is an existing Quik Stop.

The Raja Chandi Group, Inc. is the developer.

Originally plans called for more apartments and an 8,000-square-foot retail building but the project was not realized due mostly to the state shutdown over the pandemic and the resulting slowdown in the economy.

The apartment complex will consist of two- to three-bedroom units situated in 18 two-story buildings containing two to four units each. The complex proposes an attached one-car garage for each unit and one 640-square-foot office building.

The number of 58 dwelling units is lower than the 80 to 120 units that the zoning would allow. The smaller units will range from 1,292 square feet to 1,438 square feet of living space; while the three-bedroom units will be 1,584 to 1,662 square feet.

The apartments would primarily be accessed from Tranquil Lane and Morgan Road while one on Service Road will be reserved as emergency vehicle access only. Because of city planning staff concerns about traffic flow in and out of the site, all turning movements from the entrances at Service Road and Morgan Road would be limited to “right-in” and “right-out” only, accomplished with the construction of concrete medians on Morgan and Service roads.