- Credibility:
CHATHAM — A South Side car wash that received backlash from some neighbors will celebrate its groundbreaking Tuesday.
Local leaders, including Alderman-elect Ronnie Mosley and retiring Ald. Howard Brookins Jr. (21st), will gather 10 a.m. Tuesday at 243 W. 83rd to celebrate the Buddy Bear car wash.
The $5 million project will replace vacant land at 201-357 W. 83rd St. The single-story car wash will be about 4,775 square feet and include 26 parking spaces, according to the developers’ proposal.
Developers at SDR Chatham, LLC received City Council approval in September to bring another Buddy Bear to the South Side, despite protests organized by the West Chatham Improvement Association less than a day prior.
At the time, neighbors said they told Brookins, whose ward includes the development, they didn’t want the car wash there. They demanded a sit-down restaurant or a business that would spur more jobs to fill the long-vacant land.
There are “five car washes within a quarter-mile of the new location,” and Chatham doesn’t need another, Bernita Turner, president of the West Chatham group, said in September.
The Chatham development will be minutes from another Buddy Bear at 1045 W. 95th St. Buddy Bear has more than a dozen locations on the West and South sides, owner Phil Degeratto said.
Although there are car washes nearby, “just like restaurants, they’re not all the same,” Degeratto said in September. The car wash will also bring eight permanent jobs to the community, and the company will hire locally for maintenance services, Degeratto said in September.
“I’m looking forward to being a part of the community, and, hopefully, we can win over the opposition and they realize that we are a plus to the community,” Degeratto said.
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