Havasu’s Vibrant New Food Truck Park on Track to Open in 6-8 Months

Lake Havasu City is set to welcome a new food truck park within the next six to eight months. Developer Stefan Pena is poised to break ground on the project imminently.

Last October, the Lake Havasu City Planning and Zoning Commission granted a major conditional use permit for the food truck park. This approved site, near a Texaco gas station, is located at 2894 Jamaica Blvd and 2895 Chemehuevi Blvd.

The newly approved plans include a building, 41 parking spaces, landscaping, and an outdoor seating area. Narrowly passed by a 4-3 vote, the permit comes with several conditions: no outdoor entertainment, a limit of seven food trucks, and compliance with noise and lighting regulations.

Pena, hailing from Bend, Oregon, brings his expertise from a region where food truck lots are common. “Every time another one opens here, I’m always super surprised, because it’s like how many of these can we have, but they’re not poorly done,” Pena remarked about the proliferation of food truck lots in Oregon.

The forthcoming park, named Hava Bite Bar & Food Truck Park, will feature an indoor designated area as well as space for seven food trucks. The indoor section includes a commissary kitchen, a bar serving beer, wine, and other beverages, and amenities like six roll-up glass doors, an indoor/outdoor fireplace, and outdoor misters.

Outside, the park will boast an astroturf area, and there are considerations to add a splash pad. Several food trucks have already expressed interest, including Stubby’s Red Wagon BBQ, Kirbside Pizza Co., and a sushi truck run by the Leal family, formerly of Shogun, set to operate soon as Hava Sushi.

Pena explained the convenience of food truck parks for both vendors and customers. “It’s very stressful having to go and dump your water everyday, having to move the trailer, plug it in, make sure the power source is correct, and there’s a lot of variables whenever you move a food truck around,” he said.

Static locations also offer reliability for customers. “Being somewhere where people know how to get to you, find you everyday, they know you’re there, they know your hours, it just ends up being more fun,” Pena added.

Pena and his uncle, Troy Bybee, who purchased the trailer for Hava Sushi, are enthusiastic about the upcoming park. Bybee noted the lack of dining options in the area and expressed optimism about the park’s potential. “There’s nothing in that neighborhood, it’s kind of just the gas station with the chicken until you go all the way over to Bashas’ or all the way over by McCulloch,” Bybee said.