New car wash to be built near former Valley Shopping Center in St. Charles

ST. CHARLES – A new car wash will be built near the former Valley Shopping Center in St. Charles.

At their Dec. 17 meeting, St. Charles aldermen approved a special use permit for Extreme Clean Express Car Wash, located at 1625 W. Main St. Plans are to demolish a vacant car wash on the site at the southeast corner of West Main Street and South 17th Street and build a new fully automated car wash.

That area is in the midst of being redeveloped. The shopping center was recently demolished to make way for a new 56,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art police station. It is expected to open by the end of 2019 and serve the city's needs for 50 years.

Dan Gunsteen, who is purchasing the property, is redeveloping the site for a new car wash. The proposal calls for a right in/right out vehicular driveway from Main Street utilizing the existing access location and a new full access from 17th Street. The current curb cuts would be closed.

Plans also call for 22 vacuum stalls along the west side of the building along with five regular parking stalls. As part of the project, a new public sidewalk would be built along 17th Street.

Main Street Wash, which is currently located on the site, has been vacant for a number of years. The new police station is under construction just south of the site.