A prominent Amherst intersection near the Sheridan Drive Wegmans and the Centerpointe business park is about to get an upgrade.
Plans by the Iskalo Development Corp. call for demolishing the former Valvoline Instant Oil Change at 5105 Sheridan Drive, at the corner of Mill. In its place, Iskalo would construct a 2,400-square-foot one-story coffee shop and drive-thru, with a front patio on the Mill Street side.
According to its application to the Town of Amherst, the building would “incorporate elements of the coffee retailer’s latest prototype design.” Iskalo did not identify the retailer, but the signage design in its rendering is consistent with Starbucks.
Iskalo also has plans to construct a three-story apartment building around the corner on Mill Street in the future. That will bring two drive-thru lanes right next to each other on one site, while eventually creating 16 additional apartments in a growing area, if the second project proceeds.
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As part of the project, Iskalo would reconfigure the parking lot at 5117 Sheridan next door, where Mighty Taco currently leases a 2,800-square-foot building. That building and its own drive-thru lane would remain, but a shared three-lane main entrance drive on Sheridan would split into shared parking traffic and two drive-thru lanes, with the Mighty Taco drive-thru curving to the left around its building with a six-car capacity.
Meanwhile, the coffee drive-thru traffic would meander back along the driveway through the rear employee parking lot on the 1.4-acre site, where it would enter a specialized lane that loops all the way back around the parking to the retail shop in front, with a capacity to line up 16 cars. A secondary right-turn-in, right-turn-out driveway on Mill Street near the patio will also provide site access but three other existing driveways will be eliminated.
Iskalo also plans to construct a three-story, 18,000-square-foot apartment building at 543-553 Mill, behind the coffee shop, with a separate driveway entrance from Mill on the south side of the building, and a rear parking area. That building would contain 16 apartments. The two properties currently contain a two-family house and a single-family home.
But Iskalo Executive Vice President David Chiazza said demolition of the homes and construction of the apartment building is not a certainty. The four properties comprising the site were previously rezoned by the town in August 2022.
“There is no plan to proceed with redevelopment of those two homes at this time (or any time in the foreseeable future),” Chiazza wrote by email.
The Amherst Planning Board will take up the application on March 21. If approved, construction would take one year for the coffee shop.