Drive-thru coffee coming to town

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Scooter’s Coffee is coming to 709 W. Broadway St. in Fortville on a vacant gas station property and will include a new building spanning 884 square feet.

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FORTVILLE – A Fishers couple and a Nebraska-based chain plan to bring a drive-thru coffee location to Fortville’s western gateway.

Scooter’s Coffee is coming to 709 W. Broadway St. on a vacant gas station property and will include a new building spanning 884 square feet. The site is just west of a BP gas station that is under construction.

Established in 1998 outside of Omaha, Nebraska, the drive-thru coffee chain’s menu includes coffee drinks, hot drinks, iced drinks, smoothies, teas and food – including waffle sandwiches, cake bites, breakfast burritos and baked goods.

The Fortville Advisory Plan Commission granted approvals for the development earlier this week.

Dave and Donna Ayala of Fishers are the franchisees.

“We’re planning on starting construction in a couple of months here, as soon as we get through the permitting process, and being open this summer,” Dave Ayala said at a recent Fortville Redevelopment Commission meeting.

The Ayalas hail from Omaha, near where Scooter’s Coffee started.

“It’s been kind of our dream to open up a Scooter’s in Indiana,” Dave Ayala said.

Jalen Garza, pre-development manager for Scooter’s Coffee, said that the company plans to build upward of 50 locations throughout the Indiana area.

Adam Zaklikowski, Fortville planning and building director, said at the plan commission meeting that an environmental study had been conducted on the site due to its past purpose as a gas station. He added that a leaking petroleum tank was found in 1993 but has since been removed and that the site has been cleared by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

The proposal also offered an opportunity for the town and the business to partner to improve the area. Plans are in place to create a 90-degree entrance and exit off Broadway to the site that connects with Old Ind. 67 to the site’s rear. Old Ind. 67 will be milled and receive an overlay to the east. The stretch of Old Ind. 67 to the west will be torn out and replaced with soil, grass and landscaping.

The town’s redevelopment commission approved up to $100,352.76 for those upgrades.

Joe Renner, Fortville town manager, noted that the new access will be far safer than the way Old Ind. 67 currently meets Broadway, which is far more like an on-ramp than an intersection.

“With BP going in, there’s going to be some more traffic there and we just really wanted to be able to take this opportunity to partner with the Scooter’s folks and see if we wouldn’t improve the area aesthetically and functionally and everything for this business and everybody around,” Renner said. “It’s our front door coming in from the west side.”

Garza agreed.

“We’re extremely happy to be able to join forces and collaborate with everybody to do what’s best not only for Scooter’s, but for the community, the people of Fortville,” he said.

A new Scooter’s Coffee building is coming to a vacant gas station property at 709 W. Broadway in Fortville. Mitchell Kirk | Daily Reporter