A car wash proposed for the southeast section of Shaker Square is no longer on the table.
Express Wash announced this week it has withdrawn plans to build its 21st location in Northeast Ohio in one of the city’s most walkable retail districts.
Residents and city officials were up in arms after the project was announced, especially right before Express Wash’s designs were to go before a committee of the city’s Landmarks Commission. More than 150 letters, emails and calls poured in—only two in support of the project.
Local government didn’t like it either. Mayor Justin Bibb’s office, Council President Blaine Griffin and the city’s development team all found a car wash to be the wrong idea for the historic neighborhood.
“We remain steadfastly opposed to any variation of this application,” Chief of Integrated Development Tom McNair told members of the Greater Cuyahoga Valley Historic Design Review Advisory Committee on Wednesday, as NEOTrans reported.
“We will remain opposed to this,” he said, “and we will actively work to stop it as long as we can, as far as we can.”
The site Express Wash was eyeing before the rise of opposition is now a defunct retail strip at 2750 Van Aken Blvd., about a minute walk south of the square. If approved, the company planned to demolish the building and place a single-use car wash with vacuum aisles and payment gates in its place, plans show.
Those plans, when considering Shaker Square’s recent activity, seemed a little off the mark. From 2023 to 2025, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and Burten, Bell, Carr, the nonprofits that own the square, threw $5 million into new lighting, awnings, roofing, facades and lots to attract more businesses and foot traffic.
“The Square’s next chapter will continue to welcome and invite peope in,” a Vision Plan published last January reads, “along bike paths from nearby neighborhoods, on safe sidewalks from complimentary retail corridors and on the Rapid from across the region.”
The plan called for third spaces and retail: ice cream shops, pet stores, boutique gyms and barbershops. Sazani Oceana, the revived Luchita’s and Café Indigo have opened up their doors since. A Summer on the Square program has brought yoga and live music to weekend nights.
In a statement Wednesday, Express Wash Concepts CEO John Roush seemed surprised by the opposition but willing to listen.
“After hearing directly from Shaker Square residents, it became clear the community has a different vision for this site,” he said, “and Clean Express Auto Wash respects that.”
“Cleveland deserves the right project in the right place,” he added, “and we’ll keep looking.”
Alternatives plans for the site have yet to be submitted.
