Operators of two fast-food restaurants on Bloomington’s east side filed plans to demolish the restaurants to make room for a new car wash. The site, located at Third Street and Pete Ellis Drive, is currently home to a KFC and a Taco Bell.
The documents filed with the city detail a 7,055 square-foot carwash, taking up the 2901 East Third St. and 3001 East Third St. properties. The building would face Third St., and traffic would flow in and out of the Williamsburg Center off of Pete Ellis Drive.
Read more: Arby's+? More restaurants try subscription programs to keep eaters coming back
But no need to ditch your chicken combos and crunch wrap supremes just yet.
Gabriel Holbrow, zoning planner with Bloomington’s planning and transportation department, said several approvals are needed before breaking ground.
“If it's typical, we'll get another response for them pretty soon, answering some of the issues,” Holbrow says. “If it resolves all of them, we can approve the site plan. If there's still things to be resolved it will be more back and forth.”
After minor site plan approval, if everything goes perfectly, they could be breaking ground in six to eight weeks. But that’s on a no-obstacles timeline. Holbrow says there is no confirmed timeline at the moment.
“For whatever reason, they decide they don't want to move forward at this time, it could come back six years later,” Holbrow says.
With the current plans, the current entrances and exits off of Third Street would be eliminated.
The planning and transportation department uses the city’s unified development ordinance (UDO) to figure out compliance. Currently, under the UDO, there is no need for a traffic study.
“UDO is based in the idea that there's going to be a certain amount of traffic on all the roads that can increase or decrease and that that can be handled over time,” Holbrow said.
According to Bloomington’s zoning districts interactive map, the lot is a mixed-use corridor, meaning that everything from storefront retail to personal offices can be built there. That includes both restaurants and carwashes.
Crew Carwash has over 40 locations in Indiana, with three coming soon. If approved, the site would become Crew Carwash’s second Bloomington location. The first Bloomington location opened in 2017 at 3430 W. Third St.
