5th car wash proposed for North Huntingdon area
The North Huntingdon area could become the unofficial car wash capital of the county.
A fifth car wash in the area is being proposed by Boing US Holdco Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., at the site of a former medical office at 12279 Route 30, located just west of the Norwin Town Square shopping center. Coldwell Banker has listed the .9-acre property for sale at $674,900, according to its website.
The North Huntingdon Zoning Hearing Board has scheduled a hearing for 7 p.m. Sept. 5 on Boing US Holdco’s request that it be granted setback and sign variances for its proposed Take 5 Car Wash.
A spokesperson for Take 5 Car Wash, which calls itself the largest express car wash in the nation, could not be reached for comment.
The attraction for locating another car wash in that stretch of Route 30 could be the 29,000 vehicles that PennDOT estimates travel the highway each day.
Two other car washes are proposed for the seven-mile stretch of Route 30 in Irwin and North Huntingdon — a WetGo car wash at the site of the former Penn-Irwin Motel in Irwin and an automated car wash operated by Express Wash Concepts of Etna, Ohio, at what once was Teddy’s restaurant and the Double Wide Grille in North Huntingdon.
An Express Wash Concepts representative told the North Huntingdon commissioners it expects to open the 120-foot-car wash along the westbound lanes of Route 30, in either late winter or early spring 2024.
Construction of the automated WetGo car wash in Irwin was anticipated to be this spring, with the project finished in about five months, said Lee May, site manager for Get Go Operating LLC, a subsidiary of Giant Eagle Inc. While the car wash will be built in Irwin, it will be on a parcel that straddles both municipalities.
There is a Giant Eagle supermarket and a GetGo convenience store and fuel pumps at a shopping plaza adjacent to the proposed WetGo site.
Mark Ferguson, a spokesman for WetGo, could not reached for comment.
Ron Palarino has operated his full-service Steel City Car Wash at 10560 Route 30 in North Huntingdon for 35 years.
A LaserWash Touch-Free Car Wash is located at 13539 Route 30 in North Huntingdon.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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