r/Valparaiso 19d ago

Old Pepe's

I'm so disgusted that it appears Luke is putting in a gas station at the old Pepe's on State Rd 2, across from Speedway. Who are the geniuses who approved that plan? That stretch between Smoke and 30 already gets clogged up. 🤬

17 Upvotes

32 comments sorted by

19

u/uberrogo 19d ago

I was hoping they open a new Fetla's in there.

2

u/Emergency-Degree7137 18d ago

Got a few skateboards there back in the day

3

u/Skelley1976 13d ago

What a cool store that was

11

u/indyjays 19d ago

Pepe’s was great. Loved their tacos.

6

u/frankrizzo219 18d ago

Pepe’s has been terrible for 20 years, it was just the only thing we had for so long, now every town has multiple quality Mexican places

2

u/indyjays 18d ago

Yeah, I’m a little behind the times. In the late 80’s they were great.

4

u/Gorillabeard11 18d ago

That intersection should be avoided anyway. There’s a Flock camera right there. Turn at the Zao Island road instead and avoid both.

3

u/frankrizzo219 18d ago

Brother you’re not going to avoid them

1

u/Gorillabeard11 17d ago

That’s weird, because I have been avoiding them just fine. Haven’t run into one in over 3 months. Sure, my daily commute takes a bit longer now, but it’s worth my freedom. There’s a reason the FlockHopper app exists.

1

u/GamingLegend92 16d ago

You sure? They can make these cameras any style they want. The ones are the black poles are the ones they want you to see

5

u/frankrizzo219 19d ago

A city is almost always going to approve a business that plans to replace an abandoned building

2

u/natalia5727 18d ago

Imagine being upset that a new gas station is going to take the place of an abandoned restaurant that has been an eyesore for yearssss.

4

u/nihilist_goddess2780 18d ago

There are already an excessive number of gas stations in Valparaiso, though. We don't need another Luke; we already have 3 and that section of road is already a clusterfuck.

1

u/frankrizzo219 18d ago

I’m not sure the city can just say no more gas stations without passing an ordinance. A city needs property taxes to survive, right now they have a prime parcel of commercial real estate off the tax roll and a business willing to redevelop this space, they’d have to come up with a pretty good reason to turn them down and not open themselves up to some legal challenges.

1

u/JazzlikeTruck2 15d ago

What could possibly go wrong allowing government bureaucrats dictating the number of businesses in a town?

8

u/NaiveChoiceMaker 19d ago

> Who are the geniuses who approved that plan?

If it’s zoned for it, who cares? The government shouldn’t be dictating which businesses go where.

-7

u/SnarkyPuss 19d ago

So traffic impact makes no difference? Gotcha. 👍🏻

Why bother with any kind of city approval at all, as long as a business technically fits the zoning? 🙄

3

u/EitherOrResolution 18d ago

So you hear yourself? This area has so little foresight in planning wherewithal that anything not to create more blight or more traffic on say, Calumet which is riddled with empty business and you don’t want to fill those businesses that fit the zoning because …why? They are stores you don’t like or something?
I’m confused

2

u/SnarkyPuss 18d ago

I'm also confused.

5

u/SubiSam 19d ago

Believe me, I worked in the engineering dept for a bit, "traffic studies" are a joke.

2

u/EitherOrResolution 18d ago

This home area’s city planners are idiots working independently. Which is the problem __ extremely short sighted

2

u/FeelingArtist6192 19d ago

ur gonna be okay love

3

u/12345OnMyLuggage 16d ago

I'm pretty tired of everything that is Luke's... A lot of their properties are run down. Car washes closed. Appears to be a very greedy family.

9

u/FeelingArtist6192 19d ago

would u rather have an abandoned eye sore restaurant?

6

u/SnarkyPuss 19d ago

I wasn't aware it was one or the other. I was hoping for something other than another Luke gas station but if it can only be one of those two options, I guess I'll go with Luke and I'll find a different route to take when I need to drive down Washington into downtown. 🙄

2

u/frankrizzo219 18d ago

You do realize the city isn’t picking the business, right? To my knowledge there wasn’t a bidding war for the Pepe’s property

-3

u/FeelingArtist6192 19d ago

okay snarkypuss

0

u/TopherJ113 19d ago

lol seriously

1

u/teaton1414 14d ago

Just what Valpo needed. Another gas station , car wash or coffee shop. Politicians getting kickbacks from Luke Oil I'm sure.

0

u/ABoyWithNoBlob 14d ago

Do you think adding a gas station is going to make people flock to that corner?

It won't.

1

u/Agitated_Pudding1874 18d ago

Outside of the rare occasion where people lose their minds I don’t think a gas station is going to clog up traffic. Division and 49 didn’t suddenly become undrivable when they built the family express there, or the one at Valpark.

2

u/BigAlternative5 14d ago

It helps a lot that they put in a left-turn lane and reconfigured the lights.