Car wash proposed for former Produce Center site in Gladstone Park on NW Side; Gardiner sets community meeting

Image shows a typical Dream Clean Car Wash.

by BRIAN NADIG

A new Dream Clean Car Wash has been proposed for the former Produce Center site at 5820 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Gladstone Park.

Alderman James Gardiner (45th) and Dream Clean will hold a community meeting on the proposal at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, at Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity Church, 6040 W. Ardmore Ave. The project requires a zoning change from B3-1 Community Shopping District to C1-1 Neighborhood Commercial District.  The Produce Center closed about 5 years ago.

“Per our tradition we meet with community groups and get input and then hold a larger community meeting” before deciding whether a zoning change proposal should move forward, Gardiner said. The Gladstone Park Neighborhood Association has sent the alderman a letter voicing “general” support for the project, asking that additional feedback be gathered at a community meeting

Dream Clean has several locations in the suburbs, including in Wheeling, Palatine, Oak Lawn, Mundelein, Lombard, Hoffman Estates and Algonquin, according to its Web site. The site lists a basic wash for $5 up to a wash with ceramic coating for $20.

The existing building would be demolished to make way for a 5,500-square foot automated car wash, where vehicles would be pulled through on moving platforms. There also would be free self-serve vacuums to clean cars along the east side of the facility. Alley access to the car wash would reportedly be not allowed.

West of the site is the Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity Church and School and to the north is Chicago Hair Salon, 5832 N. Milwaukee Ave. Immediately to the south is Zymi Bakery, 5806 N. Milwaukee Ave. Everything up to the bakery building would be demolished, according to plans.

In recent years, the parking lot of the former grocery store was used for COVID-19 testing and is now being used for customers of the 5800 North Cafe, 5800 N. Milwaukee Ave., and Phil’s Pizza D’Oro, 5804 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Prior to the Produce Center, the development site housed a Guitar Center and before that a Jewel grocery store, where there was a fire in 1967. In 1993 there was a proposal for a bingo hall on the site, but it never materialized, as a lawsuit to allow the hall to open was not successful. Then-alderman Patrick Levar opposed the bingo hall.

Also in the area, an Andy’s Frozen Custard is in the works for a former bank parking lot at 5851 N. Milwaukee Ave. Residents voiced support for that proposal at a meeting earlier this year.

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