A rendering of the proposed ScrubaDub Car Wash at 585 Pawtcuket Boulevard in Lowell. (Courtesy Poynat)

by Melanie Gilbert

LOWELL – Business growth in Lowell continues its hair-on-fire pace as a regional player is eyeing the city for an expansion of its state-of-the-art car care services facility.

ScrubaDub Car Wash, through its commercial realty arm AIM Realty Medford LLC, signed a $1.3 million purchase and sale agreement with the AAA Northeast, for the property located at 585 Pawtucket Boulevard.

The family-owned business has 24 locations across the New England states of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The company applied to the Zoning Board on Oct. 26, for special permit approval for signage on the estimated $8 million project.

Attorney John Cox, who represented the applicant, said in the project narrative that the car wash “would be a great fit to the neighborhood, due to the fact that there is no other car wash in Pawtucketville. The closest being on the other side of the river.”

The daily hours of the 30,000-square-foot car wash would be 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., with Sunday hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“There will be no activity on the site after closing,” Cox said. “We will provide 24/7 security with locked gates.”

Prior to submitting applications to the city’s various land-use boards, the company met with the Pawtucketville Citizens Council to discuss its plans.

“It looks like a good plan,” PCC chair Dennis Mercier said by phone on Tuesday. “They reached out to the neighborhood group and were willing to work with the neighbors on their concerns.”

Some of those concerns included increased traffic on Melrose Street, a two-way residential street with a southern terminus at Pawtucket Boulevard. The entrance and exit to the car wash will be off Melrose.

“There will be no curb cut on Pawtucket Boulevard,” Cox said. “Residents of Melrose Street are concerned with extra traffic on this residential street and requested that we install ‘No Left-Hand Turn Lane’ signs at the exit. Also requested [are] speed bumps on Melrose. We agree to both requests and will work with the city to accomplish this.”

As part of its application, the company also submitted statistical data from a traffic study at its ScrubaDub car wash in Framingham.

“It should be specifically noted that the data is representative of a car wash, which is the same building dimension for the washing ‘tunnel’ as the proposed facility at 585 Pawtucket Boulevard,” LandPlex Project Engineer Matt Hamor said in documents submitted to the city.

During the selected reporting days of Jan. 8, March 7, 13 and 28 and May 29, the Framingham location generally had its highest daily car volume between the hours of noon and 3 p.m.

Average car volume for that location during that reporting period was between 84 to 99 cars per hour or between 1,300 to just more than 1,500 cars per day. The location generated between $8,000 and $28,000 per day in revenue for those selected days.

“As the results show, the facility can accommodate in excess of 150 vehicles per hour,” Hamor said.

The company received unanimous Zoning Board approval with conditions for variance and special permit on signage. It comes before the Conservation Commission for a public hearing on Nov. 18. The hearing is in accordance with the city’s wetlands ordinance as the proposed site sits within a flood plain overlay district.

A public hearing before the Planning Board for site plan review is scheduled for Dec. 7.

ScrubaDub joins Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Chipotle Mexican Grill as new players in the city, as well as the expansion of the national variety discount retailer Family Dollar, with other developments – both commercial and residential – in the works.