Wawa will replace one of its Center City stores at 19^th and Market streets with a Wawa tech hub, according to CEO Chris Gheysens.

Gheysens said the site will be a venue to bring startups together in a “Wawa real-life environment” to explore tech solutions for the Delaware County company and provide tech training for young workers, writes Emma Dooling for Philadelphia Business Journal.

“That is a great location, and hopefully a visible sign that tech is alive and well, and the ecosystem that we create around it for the Philly area is alive and well,” Gheysens said.

He hopes the location will become a “beacon” for tech industry health in the region.

The planned Wawa tech hub is part of Wawa’s partnership with the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia in an effort to market the region as a tech hub.

Wawa has been undergoing a digital transformation in the past several years, with 30 percent of the company’s overhead dedicated to technology training.

Another store at 12^th and Market will not reopen, Gheysens said.  Wawa is working with a nonprofit partner to convert a store at 13^th and Chestnut into “something that could really do good” for the Philadelphia community, he said.

Read more about Wawa’s plans for Center City in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Check out the reaction seven years ago to the opening of Wawa’s Center City flagship store at Broad and Walnut.