Crew, Fishers find alternate site for carwash, expand plan to include new headquarters

Crew Carwash and the city of Fishers announced Friday morning that the company will build a new corporate headquarters and a carwash just west of the controversial location where Crew previously wanted to build a carwash.

The 40,000-square-foot headquarters and 5,700 square-foot carwash is planned for five undeveloped acres near the northwest corner of 116^th Street and Exit 5 Parkway, next to Top Golf and behind a Riverview Health urgent care center that is under construction. The site is just east of Interstate 69.

Crew plans to spend $10 million to buy the land and build the headquarters. The land is owned by Sunbeam Development Corp., which has several parcels in the area.

In addition to the carwash, Crew eventually plans to use the site to establish research and development facilities and training programs.

The city of Fishers will recommend that the Fishers City Council approve $1.72 million in incentives for the project, including a 10-year real property tax abatement and an impact-fee waiver for the headquarters. The city council meets Monday. The project also will need to gain approval from the Plan Commission, which will likely come after the incentives are approved.

Crew, which has been headquartered in a 22,000-square-foot building at 10251 Hague Road in Fishers for 15 years, doesn’t currently have a carwash in the city. The company began looking for a location along 116^th Street between Interstate 69 and Olio Road about a year ago, before filing plans to build one at the northwest corner of 116^th Street and Cumberland Road, south of the existing LA Fitness.

But because that land’s zoning ordinance was revised in 2017 to excludes car washes and other auto uses, the company had to ask the city to amend the ordinance to allow it to build there. The city’s planning department had recommended the Fishers Plan Commission send an unfavorable recommendation to the city council because a carwash doesn’t fit with the city’s long-term plans for the Delaware Commons Development. The staff feared it would add congestion to an already busy intersection.

Crew withdrew those plans, IBJ reported Thursday, and said it was looking for a different location in Fishers.

“Crew Carwash is a Fishers institution, calling Fishers its home since 2004” Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said in written comments. “Working alongside them to not only identify a location that meets the vision of the city, but a permanent home for them in Fishers, demonstrates our commitment to supporting local businesses which value our smart, vibrant, and entrepreneurial business environment.”

The carwash is expected to open next year, and the headquarters is slated for completion in 2022. 

“We look forward to working with the city on this exciting opportunity to provide a more convenient way for Fishers residents to experience our clean, fast and friendly service,” Sally Grant, Crew’s executive vice president, said in written comments. “We have been happy to call Fishers home for the past 15 years and are equally excited about potentially building a brand new corporate office and training center for all our team members who serve our internal and external customers every day.”