Construction crews work on the Love's travel center just east of Interstate 84 in Baker City in late October 2023.

BAKER CITY — Construction continues on the Love’s truck stop and travel center in Baker City east of Interstate 84, and an official for the company said the business could potentially open this winter.

“Right now (the tentative opening date) is Feb. 22,” said Shawn Baker, a real estate project manager for Love’s. “Very soft on that, and that’s based on asphalt and concrete finish. If the (asphalt) plant closes early or it can’t get it here, that’ll change the dates a lot. They can keep working on the building, but without asphalt it puts us into next spring.”

The truck stop is being built on 13.3 acres just east and north of the Super 8 Motel, near the Campbell Street freeway interchange. The property is inside the city limits.

The Baker City Planning Commission approved Love’s application in February of this year.

The facility will include two structures of about 11,000 square feet each. One will contain a convenience store as well as an Arby’s restaurant with a drive-thru. The other building is a truck tire shop.

The truck stop will include gasoline and diesel pumps, a truck scale, and separate parking areas for 67 cars and 67 commercial trucks.

The parking lot, fuel pumps and restaurant drive-thru would be accessed from Campbell Street to the south and Best Frontage Road to the east. That part of the travel center, catering to passenger car traffic, would be at the south side of the development, nearest Campbell Street.

The truck parking, fuel pumps and tire shop would have truck driveways off Best Frontage Road.

There are seven Love’s travel centers in Oregon — Ontario, Boardman, Madras, Troutdale, Albany, Roseburg and Klamath Falls.

Baker said the company seeks to have a travel center about every 150 miles of freeway, although the interval can be shorter on more heavily traveled routes such as Interstate 5.

The Baker City project is a “tier 1 store, our second-biggest sized store, and really, really nice,” Baker said. “Up to date with modern design, and sharp looking.”

He said the convenience store will open first, with the Arby’s following about a week later and the tire shop another two weeks or so after that.

Baker said he expects the travel stop will employ 70-75 people, with 90% hired locally.

He believes the new truck stop will help alleviate truck parking congestion when the freeway is closed.

“You won’t have trucks parked on the sides of the roads,” he said. “They’ll have a place to actually stay here.”

Another development east of the freeway

Love’s is the second major commercial development planned on the east side of Interstate 84.

In September 2022 the Baker County Planning Commission approved Maverik Inc.’s application to build the company’s second gas station/convenience store in Baker City.

Maverik, which opened its current store, at 1520 Campbell St., in November 2011, plans to build the new business just east of Interstate 84 near the North Baker City interchange, exit 302. The property is just southeast of the freeway overpass.

Cassie Younger, Maverik’s planning project manager, said last fall that she expected the new location to open in 2024. The Campbell Street location will continue to operate after the new store opens, she said.

Maverik’s new station has had utilities added to the site but has not yet broken ground on the actual structures.