Blue Line shouldn't kill Wawa gas station on East Washington

Indianapolis Star

a day ago

Sometimes you just have to take the win.
That's especially true for an area that's been losing and losing and losing, for decades on end, like Indianapolis' East Washington Street corridor. Drive east past Irvington and you'll see the decaying remnants of 1970s Americana. There are shuttered big-box stores. There's Washington Square, or what's left of it, which is a Target store attached to an otherwise dead mall, giving the appearance of a single leafy limb clinging to a diseased tree.
East Washington Street needs a boost. Improbably, one of America's most popular retailers is offering it on one of the corridor's most bleak stretches.
Even more improbable? Indianapolis seems inclined to reject it.
Pennsylvania-based Wawa wants to build a convenience store with 16 gas pumps at Washington Street and Shortridge Avenue at the site of the Get Fit Athletic Club.
Wawa is a top-rated convenience store chain in customer surveys, most recently ranking No. 1 in the inaugural American Customer Satisfaction Index. Wawa is known for clean stores and good food, including popular hoagies. It's a gas station, yes, but it's a gas station with a devoted fan base. Think of it more like a premium restaurant chain.
Briggs: Steak 'n Shake's MAGA makeover is a desperate bid to save a dying business
The East Washington Street location would be part of Wawa's broader expansion into Indiana. But it faces opposition.
The proposed Wawa location falls along the Blue Line bus rapid transit route. City policy favors mixed-use development, especially housing, along that route and discourages gas stations. Wawa's plan for 16 gas pumps is double the number of permitted pumps under city rules.
Saying no to Wawa over an arbitrary regulation on number of gas pumps would be insane. A Wawa at this location would be a precious gift from complex retail gods. Almost any other city would be overjoyed by good fortune. Not Indianapolis.
Andy Nielsen, an east-side Democrat on the City-County Council, told Mirror Indy he's listening to his constituents, many of whom oppose the Wawa because they don't want another gas station along East Washington Street. Many residents say they'd prefer another type of development, especially housing.
I want more housing, too. That's why I've been frustrated with the bad ideas and slow pace of redevelopment at Irvington Plaza, a former Marsh-anchored shopping center surrounded by the Pennsy Trail, residential streets and a future Blue Line stop. Irvington Plaza has the potential to be a jewel.
Briggs: Fountain Square camp shows Indianapolis' homelessness strategy is broken
The Get Fit Athletic Club does not. Go stand in the parking lot. You'll find yourself in one of the most cursed stretches of pavement in Indianapolis. It's sandwiched between the Shadeland Avenue cloverleaf and Interstate 465 interchange. Spin in a circle and you'll see a Hyundai dealership, two auto repair shops and a state Department of Transportation facility.
It would be almost impossible to find an Indianapolis site more appropriate for a gas station than this.
The main argument against Wawa is that IndyGo is planning to put a Blue Line station there. The Blue Line is about making Indianapolis more accessible to people without cars — and I am on board with that goal.
But bus stops are not magic. A Blue Line station isn't going to change the fact that this section of Washington Street is used almost entirely for selling, parking and servicing cars.
I guess there's a chance that something better than Wawa comes along for that site, but I can't imagine what it might be.
This is a good point to acknowledge I'm being a little hypocritical here.
I've previously written columns objecting to gas stations in Carmel and on 16th Street in Indianapolis. Gas stations generally have negative effects on people and property values. My default view is that we are heading toward a future without gas stations and that any pumps installed today will become problems to clean up down the line.
At the same time, there's obviously demand to keep building gas stations. If cities are going to keep permitting them, they should be strategic about it. We shouldn't add gas stations near residential neighborhoods or on sites with obviously better uses, but we can put them in places where they serve a purpose.
The owner of the proposed Wawa site told Mirror Indy it has been on the market for 20 years. It is clearly an economically depressed commercial area.
A Wawa would immediately change that vibe, bringing millions of dollars of investment and sending a signal to other retailers that it might be a good spot to set up shop.
Is a gas station, even a high-end gas station, an ideal use along a mass transit line? Of course not. It's also just one site. The Blue Line is 24 miles long. Indianapolis is not going to transform every intersection along that path into some kind of urban utopia.
Opinion: ICE's 'Speedway Slammer' propaganda gets IndyCar — and America — wrong
There's also no reason why Wawa can't have synergy with the Blue Line. Much like customers love Wawa, it is an exceptionally good place to work for a gas station. A Wawa would create dozens of jobs — held by people who might use the Blue Line — while inviting more development that could create more jobs.
Wawa's brand devotion and economic activity would bring clear benefits and add value to the surrounding area. If Indianapolis rejects Wawa, it needs to have a better reason than just because Wawa wants 16 gas pumps instead of eight. That's using dumb government rules to say no when we should be looking for ways to say yes to anything that can spark positive momentum.
It doesn't matter how many aggregate gas pumps are along East Washington Street. The only question we should care about is whether adding 16 more might improve the quality of life on Indianapolis' east side. Wawa's quality and popularity make a strong case for yes.