Tommy’s Express withdraws Traverse City car wash plan, bank eyes site

The high-profile corner at Garfield Avenue and East Front Street will not become a Tommy’s Express after all, leaving another fast-moving turn in a stretch of Traverse City that neighbors, commuters and downtown businesses watch closely. The company is withdrawing its approved car wash plan just as Nicolet Bank moves to rezone nearby East Front Street properties for a new drive-through branch, a switch that could reshape traffic and access at one of the city’s most visible gateways into downtown.

Tommy’s Express first put the site on the map on Feb. 3, 2026, when TXC Great Lakes Fund LP, doing business as Tommy’s Express, filed a site plan for an enclosed car wash at the former Burger King and Cuppa Joe property. The proposal covered 1054 and 1060 East Front Street and called for an automatic enclosed car wash, vacuum stations and a mat-washing building, all on a corner that has long drawn attention because of its location near downtown.

Traverse City planning commissioners approved the project 8-1 on April 22, but the vote came reluctantly. Commissioners said the car wash was an allowed use by right on the C-3 site, which left little room to block it under the existing ordinance. That detail mattered because it showed how much of the decision was being driven by the current zoning rules rather than by enthusiasm for the project itself.

The city’s Planning & Zoning Department handles site-plan approvals and zoning changes, and the Planning Commission reviews development proposals for consistency with city plans. City zoning materials also show that Traverse City is actively updating its zoning and development regulations, which helps explain why marquee parcels on East Front and Garfield have become part of a broader land-use debate. The corner’s future has been shifting along with those rules.

That churn now appears to be continuing in a different direction. Instead of a car wash, the next major proposal tied to the site area is a bank-led one, with Nicolet Bank seeking rezoning for a drive-through branch nearby. For residents along East Front Street, the practical question is no longer whether an auto-oriented use will go in, but what kind of traffic, turnover and street activity the next plan will bring, and how quickly the city wants the corner settled after another abrupt change.