Plan Commission OKs three-tenant development at 12th and Hampshire that includes return of Deters Frozen Custard

QUINCY — The Quincy Plan Commission voted Wednesday night to recommend approval of a special permit for a planned development to allow for the construction of a multi-tenant commercial development at 200-208 N. 12th and 1215 Hampshire.

The development now goes to the Quincy City Council for its approval and for an ordinance to be drafted.

The owner of the 17,000-square-foot parcel would be Jason Deters. Contingent on City Council approval, he would acquire the property at 200-208 N. 12^th from Steve and Tracy Disselhorst and the property at 1215 Hampshire from All-Line Equipment Company, which now conducts its business at 2535 Locust. Steve Disselhorst is the operations and construction manager for All-Line Equipment.

Deters says Deters Frozen Custard to Quincy would return to Quincy with a drive-thru at 12^th and Hampshire. The business first opened on 36th Street in May 2001 before moving to 3024 Broadway in 2005. Rich and Beth Deters entered semi-retirement in May 2014, but the custard continued to be sold at Daylight Donuts, 1837 Broadway. Daylight Donuts closed in November 2018.

Deters Frozen Custard now has two locations in St. Charles (Mo.) County.

Deters says the planned development calls for two other businesses at 12^th and Hampshire. One would be his own business, 3D Windows and Siding, and he said another could be a doctor’s office. 

“What we’re really going for is a nice outdoor patio seating area, something aesthetically pleasing in the front with a smaller custard cafe,” Deters said. “Then we’ll have two little commercial buildings behind that.”

Deters plans to buy the property and construct the building, but he plans to lease space to family members to operate the custard business. His cousin, Jess Duncan, owns and operates Farmhaus Coffee Company in Ursa. She plans to bring some of her staff to help run the businesses. Deters’ uncle, Greg Deters, will also have a hand in getting the business up and running.

Greg Deters now lives in St. Charles but has remained involved in the family custard business. He is a managing partner at Forward Group, which does forecast modeling and marketing research for pharmaceutical and chemical companies. He also owns with two friends the St. Louis Distillery, a craft vodka distiller that produces Cardinal Sin Vodka and Cardinal Sin Starka.

He says the frozen custard business he plans to bring to Quincy will have more than just custard.

“One of our operators down here has been doing some interesting things with various products and tried to kind of balance out our product line,” Greg Deters said. “We’ve been doing a lot of dessert drinks, espressos, the European ice cream coffee drinks, the ice cafe kind of thing from Germany and affogatos (a scoop of plain milk-flavored or vanilla gelato or ice cream topped or “drowned” with a shot of hot espresso). It’s all an attempt to kind of balance out the seasonality of custard.”

Greg Deters said he investigated putting a Deters Frozen Custard business in the Lake of the Ozarks, but the plan fell through. The equipment bought for that business now will be put to use in Quincy.

“Jason was doing his 3D Windows and Siding, and it’s been growing really fast,” Greg Deters said. “He needs a showroom and warehouse space and stuff, and I’m always looking for some good real estate investments. Then I’m having conversations with Jess about possibly doing something with the frozen custard. Jason found this property at 12^th and Hampshire, and I’ve always been kind of interested in having a location back in Quincy. The pieces were falling together.”

If the City Council gives its approval, Greg Deters believes the property acquisition will be complete by August. Construction could start this fall, and the custard business could be open by February or March.

The property is zoned D2 (downtown general business). Jason Parrott, community development planner for the city, said city code prohibits drive-thru lanes on D2 properties. 

“D2 (zoning) requires you to basically build on the property line, but in this case to get the drive-thru, they have to push (the building) to the northeast,” Parrott said. “The Plan Commission recommended waiving that requirement to let (Jason Deters) build on another part of the property and allow for the drive-thru lane.”

The drive-thru lane must be capable of stacking 11 cars, with room for five cars between the order board and the pickup window. 

Parrott also said city code prohibits parking stalls to be in front of a building in a D2 zone. However, because the Plan Commission is recommending allowing the building to be moved, the parking requirements were waived. Parking stalls will be aligned along the Hampshire side of the building, facing north.

City code says either a landscape feature or five feet of fence must go between parking and a public street. Parrott said the Plan Commission recommended waiving that requirement, even though staff members with the city’s department of planning had recommended the fence requirement.

Parrott said Rick Smith was the only member of the Plan Commission to vote against the proposed development.

“Rick said he’s very concerned about, if you look at TCBY (at 18^th and State) and Carter’s (Coffee Bar at 3815 State), having traffic spilling out on the street,” Parrott said. “He’s concerned that it could happen there too.

“We told him what the (city) code requires … and we adhere to that because of Carter’s on Maine. Now there’s no waiver from that (requirement). (Smith) expressed concerns that it’s just too tight of a space for what they’re wanting to do.”

Greg Deters’ great-grandfather started the Deters Daily business in Quincy during the late 1800s.

Records in the Adams County Recorder’s office show Uptown Cleaners was the last business on the northeast corner of 12^th and Hampshire.