The Crestwood Board of Aldermen unanimously approved an ordinance granting a conditional use permit to Gateway Custard LLC to operate a drive-thru Andy’s Frozen Custard at 9535 Watson Road.
The drive-thru will be located at the newly constructed east outbuilding “D” in the Dierbergs Crestwood Crossing shopping center, occupying approximately one-third of the footprint of the building. There will be no interior seating, as typical with Andy’s stores, but the restaurant will include an exterior walk-up order window in addition to the drive-thru window.
“About half of their business is through the drive-through, and half is through the patio over the course of the year. They are open all year round. They do not close during the wintertime. They also do not have a speaker in their drive-thru. I know some people are concerned about speakers and that noise that comes with a drive-thru. They have a menu board, and then they take orders at the window. When cars begin to back up, they send runners out to take orders in advance,” said Joe Carey, project manager and principal at Archimages – and the architect on the project – at the Board of Aldermen’s Sept. 10 meeting.
Construction of a drive-thru-ready facility in this location was approved during the preliminary and final development plan approvals for phase one of the Crestwood Crossing Planned Development-Mixed Use District in 2021 and 2022, respectively, though a drive- thru restaurant remains a conditional use in this district, requiring a permit.
After a short presentation, Ward 3 Alderman Grant Mabie inquired about the planned opening date, to which Carey responded “in the spring.”
“As soon as this is approved this evening, we’ll begin on our construction documents. That’ll take about a month to finalize the construction documents, so those will be issued for permit at that point. Then it goes through the zoning and county permitting process, which will take about another month. Then it’s about three months of construction, since it’s almost entirely interior,” he said.
As there were no further questions, the board then voted, unanimously approving the ordinance by a vote of 8-0.
“I wish you luck with your new business. I can say for all of us, we can’t wait,” Mayor Scott Shipley said.