Car Wash Seeks to Replace Uno Pizzeria & Grill in Oaks

The Uno Pizzeria & Grill at 106 Black Rock Road in the Oaks section of Upper Providence Township could be demolished and replaced with a car wash under a proposal presented to the township's planning commission on Wednesday, July 1.

El Car Wash, a chain founded in Miami in 2011, is the proposed tenant for the site. The company's attorney, Rob Lewis of Kaplan Stewart, told the commission that the property owner, Bainbridge Oaks LLC, has been seeking a replacement tenant because the restaurant's lease expires at the end of the summer and has not been renewed.

Lewis said the roughly 8,000-square-foot restaurant building is too large for current restaurant operators, most of whom are looking for spaces closer to 5,000 square feet. He cited the recent closures of Bob Evans and P.F. Chang's in the township as part of a broader shift in casual dining. If approved, the existing building would be demolished and rebuilt for the car wash.

Deed Restriction Is the First Hurdle

The El Car Wash team presented a tentative sketch of the proposal to the commission, seeking a recommendation to extinguish or amend a deed restriction on the property. The commission's role Wednesday was limited to making a recommendation on the deed restriction, not on the full site plan.

Lewis explained that the restriction dates to 2004, when the then-owners of properties on the north side of Egypt Road obtained a rezoning to the Neighborhood-Convenience Commercial District. As part of that agreement with the township, the owners accepted restrictions barring certain uses, including fast food, drive-thru facilities, and car washes.

Lewis argued that conditions in Oaks have changed substantially over the past two decades. He noted that neighboring properties subject to the same restriction now include a Dunkin' and an Ardent Credit Union with drive-thrus, and that the Route 422 interchange area has become dominated by auto-centric uses such as Wawa, Wendy's, and Starbucks.

Geoff Grace, Upper Providence Township’s director of planning and zoning, explained to commissioners that the applicant was seeking a decision on whether the deed restriction could be lifted before investing in the zoning and land development process.

How the Proposed Car Wash Would Operate

Gabe Schuchman, a partner in El Car Wash, told the commission the company operates more than 100 locations and is 30 percent employee-owned. He described the potential plan for the Oaks site as a full-service operation with a 150-foot wash tunnel, vacuum stations, a queue line able to hold about 30 vehicles, and three lanes where employees would clean and detail cars on a track.

Schuchman said the business is cashless and membership-based, with roughly 90 percent of customers paying a monthly fee ranging from about $25 to $50. He said the facility would recycle more than 50 percent of its water and use a separator before discharging to public systems. On a busy day, the site could have 15 to 20 employees, he said.

Schuchman estimated the total investment at $7 million to $8 million, and said the company would lease rather than buy the property. He described the Philadelphia region as historically underserved by newer car washes and said El Car Wash has a pipeline of 15 to 20 locations in various stages across the market, including one in the King of Prussia area.

Concerns and Next Steps

Commission members raised concerns about traffic and site circulation. Commissioner Joe Peters said he had "a lot of concerns" about the layout but noted those issues would be addressed in later reviews. The El Car Wash team mentioned that vacuum stations initially proposed at the northern portion of the property would be removed to reduce potential congestion at that access point.

The commission, operating with three of its five members present, voted to recommend that the board of supervisors lift the deed restriction for this specific use at this location, conditioned on the applicant obtaining zoning relief and final land development approval.

The matter is expected to advance to the township’s supervisors at their July 20 meeting.