Planners endorse new Naperville car wash off Route 59


A national car wash chain is one step closer to building a location in Naperville.

The Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended plans for a Tommy’s Express Car Wash off Route 59 and Beebe Drive. With commission’s positive recommendation, the proposed 5,243-square-foot-facility moves forward to the Naperville City Council for final approval at a later date.

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Tommy’s Express Car Wash has 177 locations — plus 96 coming soon — across the country, including five currently operating in Illinois. For Naperville, the business is envisioning a 1.5-acre facility in the parking lot for Lowe’s at 1440 S. Route 59. The car wash would occupy the southeast corner of the lot,t across the street from Costco on Beebe Drive.

Reimagining a portion of the Lowe’s lot for Tommy’s Express requires several variances, including land use and parking, from the city code. Commissioners unanimously recommended approval Nov. 15.

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One calls for a deviation from the lot’s designated use for a community shopping district and two others allow a reduced number of parking spaces from what is typically required of a store of Lowe’s size.

Municipal code requires that shopping centers 250,000 square feet or bigger provide at least four parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of floor area. For Lowe’s, that translates to 538 required spaces. The store’s existing lot is bigger than required, offering 619 spaces in all.

Tommy’s Express would remove 112 spaces from the lot, leaving 507 remaining for Lowe’s.

Ahead of the meeting, the car wash company conducted a parking study to gauge parking demand. The study found that during peak hours, the maximum number of parking spaces occupied was just over 150, or about 38% of the lot. In an agenda report, city staff found that “even with the reduction of parking spaces … there remains to be sufficient parking available for Lowe’s customers.”

Tommy’s Express representatives told the commission their proposal was a way to revamp underutilized real estate.

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