The Aqua Hand Car Wash & Detail on the corner of W. Dallas could get even wetter pending the TABC’s permission for the business to serve mixed drinks on-site. The photo above, sent in by a Swamplot reader, shows the 680-sq.-ft., butterfly-roofed building where a notice naming Aqua Heights LLC as the applicant for a mixed beverage permit now hangs in the window.
The building went up on the long-vacant field at 1013 Montrose in 2011. Washing, waxing, and detailing take place in a parking lot to the east and south of the structure.
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Photo: Swamplot inbox (TABC sign); Aqua Hand Car Wash & Detail (building)
Wet Bar
…not exactly the kind of “mixed-use” I was looking for in the neighborhood.
How is this place even still exist in this location?
This is going to continue the uproar on Nextdoor about this business. The owner must be doing this to piss off the neighbors even more.
This is not a good idea. There are workers constantly walking c around the parking lot and it often looks like a valet mash-up. He should spend the money to get the business in compliance with the ongoing violations of COH noise ordinances and more. So many problems with this place already … sigh.
@Eddit: I seem to recall that the car wash model was commented on here before…. Car washes are cheap to run and high margin, so you pluck one down on property you aren’t ready to sell or develop and make some $$$ in the meantime.
hahaha, drunk and drive is coming back! How the city even consider permitting this? so ridiculous.
If you think selling drinks at a car wash is a bad idea, consider the fact that the city’s highest per-sf parking minimums apply to bars.
@Dre, the nextdoor conversation was the first thing I though of to. The neighbors are gonna love it.
The NIMBY’s are all out in full force; if I didn’t know better I’d expect this level of static from the Woodlands or Katy. You moved next to a car wash, uh what did you expect? While not as bad as the train noise folks who live next to the tracks (yeah they exist too), they aren’t far behind. I lived around the corner from this and it was never an issue, food trucks on Saturday were kind of cool actually. The car wash itself isn’t that great, but it’s certainly no blight on the neighborhood.
This ridiculous! I have a day care right behind it! How is this even considerable by the city?!
@ Angostura, bar parking requirement is not the highest and that parking requirement does not apply only for bars, but all entertainment related business/ eating, drinking services.
@ cm, the car wash is not a problem if they just wash cars, it is the fact that this place gonna serve alcohol is the potential problem to the neighborhood. And let’s not mention the fact that Wharton Elementary is just one block down south.
@Concern neighbor – Did you check the zoning laws before you moved there?
@Concerned Neighbor. Maybe you should not run a daycare out of a house….because that is all that is behind this car wash.
Not sure why people are all upset about this car wash. It’s a major road with gas stations, other car washes, business and not in the middle of a neighboorhood…so why would this not be acceptable. To me, it is no different than spending 30 mins to an hour at a bar and having a drink and getting into your car. I personally would not want to drink at a car wash, but why not allow it
@AR4SF,
Among usage classifications that base the parking requirement on GFA, bars ARE the highest, at 14 per 1000 s.f. While other uses also have their requirements, we reserve the highest parking burden for places where people predominantly go to drink alcohol.
This raises an interesting question: is a car wash that serves alcohol a car wash, or a bar? After all, a car wash only requires 1 parking space per wash bay. That’s a lot less than a bar requires. Bars should hire a couple guys with a hose, bucket and sponges, and re-classify as car washes that serve alcohol. That way they only need two parking spaces: one to serve as the wash bay, and another to serve as the parking space for that wash bay. Then they can use the rest of their parking lot to build another bar–I mean–car wash.
Angostura: Or get rid of parking minimums, period. They make as much sense as mandated parking maximums.
Is anything going to happen with the Aga Khan 11 acres lot across W Dallas? {asking for a friend, that hates tax exempt entities}
If I learned anything from reading comments off FB this past weekend, it’s that laws don’t stop bad people from doing what they’re gonna do anyway, so this and every car wash in town should be able to serve whatever concoctions they want.
*Sarcasm over*
Seriously though, the Chevron across the street sells beer and wine, and within probably 1500 feet El Tiempo, Khun Thai, Vincents, Ninos and Pronto dispense liquor. It’s not like this stretch of Montrose is TeaTotallerVille
@Angostura
@Just Think
Unfortunately, it is just a car wash (NOT A BAR) where people usually drive on solo to. So if they get drunk there, they don’t have a friend to drive them back. Beside, car wash place cleans a car in less than 10 mins, so there is no way you can sober up before you get on the road again. @ Just think, you certainly hasn’t been caught by a cop after your one “standard drink” and 30 mins rest, otherwise, you would be fail the BAC test. Please pay attention that this location is very sensitive to its surrounding environment, as there is one elementary school and one daycare very close by. Kids can’t walk on these kind of streets where people can easily get a drink from, it will be also a very bad influence to them too.
these “concern” residents are just worried that a new bar might turn montrose into that post-dry-repeal moral cesspool that is the heights.
@bocepus, funny you should ask. The Aga Khan was in town last weekend and reiterated the plans to build in Houston the first Ismaili center in the U.S.
http://www.houstontx.gov/mayor/press/first-ismaili-center-houston.html
Also https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/houston-belief/article/Visit-by-the-Aga-Khan-inspires-Ismaili-Muslims-12779081.php ($)
I agree the management wants to try to make a bit more profit.
Also agree that cops will stake this place out!
It takes forever to get your car washed at that place. It would be nice to have something to do while you waited.
@River Oaks watcher,
.
You can spend your time looking for the rats about the area… according to the people behind the place!