Is Wawa Coming to Hampstead, Scotts Hill – or Both?

If you have seen people talking about “the Wawa coming to Hampstead,” there is a good reason the conversation feels confusing.

Based on public project listings and recent reporting, there appear to be two separate Wawa-related projects being discussed near the Hampstead and Scotts Hill area. One is tied to the Scotts Hill Medical area in New Hanover County. The other is the newer proposal near U.S. 17 and Sloop Point Loop Road in Pender County.

They are close enough geographically to get blended together in everyday conversation, but they are not the same project.

What People Are Mixing Up

The confusion seems to come from three things happening at once: Wawa is actively expanding in the Cape Fear region, the Scotts Hill and Hampstead areas are close together, and people often describe anything near the county line or U.S. 17 as “Hampstead” in casual conversation.

But the two locations being discussed are different projects in different counties.

The Scotts Hill site is connected to the Scotts Hill Medical area in New Hanover County. The Hampstead proposal is tied to the U.S. 17 and Sloop Point Loop Road area in Pender County.

The Scotts Hill Wawa

The Scotts Hill project is the clearer of the two.

New Hanover County’s commercial project listing includes the Scotts Hill Medical Wawa Convenience Store and Fuel Station at 9010 Senca Drive. The county lists the project as a convenience store with fuel pumps and shows it as approved on Nov. 15, 2023.

That places the project near the Scotts Hill Medical development area, not at the Sloop Point Loop intersection in Hampstead.

Port City Daily also reported in 2025 that New Hanover County had approved the Wawa at the new Scotts Hill Medical Center location and that it was still in permitting at the time of that report. You can read that coverage from Port City Daily here.

The Hampstead Wawa

The Hampstead location is the one Topsail Guide previously covered near U.S. 17 and Sloop Point Loop Road.

The latest available update is that the proposed store went through Pender County’s Technical Review Committee process on May 7, 2026, according to recent StarNews reporting syndicated by AOL. That report said the developers were working through comments from the review process. You can read that report here.

That is meaningful progress, but it is also important not to overstate it.

Pender County describes its Technical Review Committee as a coordinated review process involving departments and agencies with a role in development review. The TRC makes recommendations on items such as site development plans, subdivisions, master development plans, and other development procedures.

In plain English: a project going through TRC means it is moving through the review process. It does not automatically mean the store is ready to break ground, has a firm opening date, or has cleared every approval needed.

Why Scotts Hill And Hampstead Get Blended Together

For people who live here, the confusion is understandable.

Scotts Hill, Porters Neck, northern New Hanover County, and southern Hampstead all run together in day-to-day conversation. U.S. 17 is the spine connecting the whole area, and a lot of people use “Hampstead” as shorthand even when a location is technically just across the New Hanover County line.

That is especially true for commercial projects. A store near the Scotts Hill Medical area may feel like part of the same growth wave as projects farther north in Hampstead, even if they are being reviewed by different counties.

Why Wawa Is Showing Up Here

This is not happening in isolation.

Wawa announced in 2024 that it had 10 sites under contract in New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender counties, according to WECT reporting. That regional expansion is part of why multiple Wawa conversations are now happening at once across the Cape Fear area.

It also explains why local chatter can move faster than the public approval process. A site can be under contract, under review, approved, permitted, or under construction, and those are not all the same thing.

The Traffic Question

For Hampstead residents, the larger issue is not only whether Wawa comes to town. It is where it lands, how traffic moves in and out, and what it means for an already-stressed U.S. 17 corridor.

The Sloop Point Loop area is especially sensitive because it already sits near schools, neighborhoods, Kiwanis Park, and one of Hampstead’s busiest stretches of highway.

Pender County commissioners previously supported funding requests for traffic signals at U.S. 17 and Sloop Point Road and U.S. 17 and Royal Tern Drive. A county resolution cited traffic on U.S. 17 exceeding road capacity and creating safety concerns for people who live and work in Hampstead. WECT covered that vote in March 2024, and the county resolution is available through Pender County’s public records.

That context matters. A new convenience store and fuel station may be useful for drivers, but the access design, turn lanes, signal timing, and driveway locations will matter just as much as the brand name on the sign.

What Still Needs To Be Confirmed

There are still several open questions for the Hampstead site:

• Has the developer fully addressed Pender County TRC comments?
• Will the site require additional county board review?
• What final driveway access will be allowed?
• Will NCDOT require turn-lane, signal, or median improvements?
• When could construction realistically begin?
• Has Wawa publicly confirmed this specific Hampstead location?

Until those details are publicly confirmed, the most accurate way to describe the Hampstead location is as a proposed Wawa site moving through the local review process.

The Bottom Line

Yes, there appear to be two separate Wawa-related projects being discussed near Hampstead and Scotts Hill.

The Scotts Hill location is listed by New Hanover County as an approved commercial project near 9010 Senca Drive. The Hampstead location near U.S. 17 and Sloop Point Loop Road appears to be newer and still moving through Pender County’s review process.

For locals, the bigger story is not just whether Wawa is coming. It is how quickly the U.S. 17 corridor is changing, how much more commercial traffic the area can absorb, and whether road improvements can keep pace with the growth already happening around Hampstead and Scotts Hill.