Murphy USA, the Arkansas-based gas station and convenience store operator that has nearly three dozen locations in the Denver area and northern Colorado, is poised to grow its handful of stores in the Pikes Peak region.

The retailer plans to add convenience stores at 8050 N. Academy Blvd. and 1435 Academy Park Loop in Colorado Springs, according to proposals it’s submitted to city government officials in recent months.

Murphy envisions another store northwest of Meridian and Eastonville roads, near the Falcon Marketplace shopping center in unincorporated Falcon, a proposal submitted to El Paso County planners shows.

Timetables for the stores weren’t known; a Murphy USA spokesman said via email he couldn’t provide additional details about the company’s plans.

The new locations would add to Murphy USA’s three existing convenience stores in the area — one in Monument and two in Colorado Springs.

Murphy USA describes itself as one of the nation’s largest independent gasoline and convenience store retailers, with more than 1,700 company owned and operated locations in 27 states, according to its website.

Its smaller gas stations operate under the Murphy USA name and are typically located near Walmart stores, the retailer’s website says. Convenience stores are branded as Murphy Express and operate as larger, stand-alone outlets; they sell chips, soft drinks and other traditional on-the-go items to go with fuel sales.

Documents submitted to the Colorado Springs and El Paso County planning departments show each of the new Murphy Express convenience stores would be a little more than 2,800 square feet, with multiple fuel pumps at each location.

Their size would be just shy of the 2,980-square-foot Murphy Express that opened in 2022 at 4085 Beverly St. in Colorado Springs, planning documents show.

The chain’s first two area stores, at 15931 Jackson Creek Parkway that opened in Monument in 2016 and 4010 Lee Vance Drive in the Springs that opened two years later, are closer to about 1,200 square feet, according to El Paso County land records.

The new Murphy Express at 8050 N. Academy, just south of Intestate 25, would be built on a site occupied by a building that formerly housed the Amanda’s Cantina/Amanda’s Fonda restaurant that closed a few years ago. At one time, a Village Inn restaurant also operated on the site.

The building would be torn down to accommodate the new Murphy Express, said John Winsor, a broker with The Retail Group, a division of the Olive Real Estate Group, a Colorado Springs commercial brokerage, and who represents the property’s local owner.

Murphy Express plans to construct its convenience store on the site and will lease the ground underneath, Winsor said.

“We consider it an A-plus location for that kind of use,” Winsor said of a convenience store. “Most people accessing that (Academy) corridor and the northeast neighborhoods come off of the interstate there and that’s one of the first properties that they come to, in addition to all the other retail and restaurant opportunities along that corridor that they may be going to.”

The Murphy Express stores at 1435 Academy Park Loop and in unincorporated Falcon would be built on vacant land. Property owners of those sites or their representatives could not be reached for comment.