Delivering Multiple Family Express Locations Across Indiana
Family Express partnered with Tonn and Blank Construction to deliver several convenience stores, fueling stations, and car wash facilities across Indiana. These projects include new Family Express locations in Nappanee, Ligonier, St. John, Valparaiso, and several additional communities across the region. Each site features a 5,795 SF convenience store, a 1,314 SF car wash, multi-pump fueling canopies, underground fuel systems, and full site development. Delivered through a design-build partnership with Family Express and Halstead Architects, construction began in March 2025, with phased openings continuing through early 2026. These projects marked Tonn and Blank’s entry into the convenience store sector, and set a repeatable approach for future locations.
Constructing several active retail fueling facilities at once introduced challenges beyond a typical commercial build. Specifically, aggressive speed-to-market expectations, Midwest weather, utility coordination, and specialized fueling and car wash systems required careful sequencing. Under traditional construction methods, congestion between trades, longer exposure to weather delays, and inconsistent schedules across sites. Therefore, maintaining predictable progress while protecting worker safety and minimizing disruption to surrounding businesses became a primary planning focus.
Execution Through Prefabrication and Self-Performance
To address these challenges, Tonn and Blank aligned preconstruction planning around modular construction and repeatable workflows. At the company’s Off-Site Construction Facility, crews prefabricated 32 wall panels for each store. They also prefabricated 16 panels for each car wash. At the same time, foundations and underground utilities progressed in the field. This parallel approach let buildings be enclosed within days after site work was complete. It reduced weather risk and limited overlap between on-site trades.
