A longtime Southport Corridor business is asking neighbors for help reopening its doors after a dispute with the City of Chicago over access to the alley behind its property.
Quiroga’s Car Wash, located at 3448 N. Southport Avenue, has launched a petition seeking support from 44th Ward residents after being unable to operate normally for more than a year.
According to the petition, the family-owned business says City Hall has refused to renew its alley-access license since June 2025.
“Since June 2025, City Hall has refused to renew our alley access license,” the business states in its petition.
The issue is particularly significant for Quiroga’s because of the configuration of the Southport property. Vehicles enter the business from Southport Avenue and traditionally exit through the alley behind the building. According to Quiroga’s, losing permission to use that alley has effectively prevented the Southport car wash from operating.
The business is now collecting names, addresses and signatures from residents in an effort to demonstrate neighborhood support for restoring the access and reopening the location.
City Records Show Southport License Lapsed
Public records reviewed by Southport Corridor News provide additional context to the dispute.
City of Chicago business-license data identifies Quiroga Corporation as the legal entity operating at 3448 N. Southport under the business name Plus Auto Care. Its most recent Limited Business License ran from February 16, 2023 through February 15, 2025. City-derived licensing records currently classify that license as lapsed.
The records do not, however, explain why it was not subsequently renewed or whether the business-license issue is directly dependent upon the disputed alley access.
Quiroga Corporation has operated other Chicago locations, meaning the situation appears to be specific to the Southport property rather than a shutdown of the company as a whole.
Quiroga’s own website continues to identify Southport as one of its locations and specifically advertises services that are available only there, including its self-service dog-washing stations.
The Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce also continues to list Quiroga Car Washes at 3448 N. Southport in its business directory.
Automotive Use at the Property Goes Back Decades
The property’s history as an automotive business stretches back decades.
Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals records show that an auto body and fender shop at 3448 N. Southport received City approval in the 1980s.
Quiroga’s says in its petition that the family business has operated at the location since 1988. Other business records date Quiroga’s operation to approximately 1991, but either date makes the car wash one of the Southport Corridor’s longer-running businesses.
The site has remained an unusual holdover as the surrounding Southport Corridor has transformed from a neighborhood commercial strip into one of Chicago’s better-known shopping, dining and entertainment districts.
City Previously Approved Public-Way Uses at Quiroga’s
City Council records also show that the business has received approvals involving the public way in the past.
In 2014, the City Council approved an ordinance for Plus Auto Care at 3448 N. Southport to maintain an awning projecting over the public way.
Five years later, another ordinance involving the same awning was introduced for the property. City records show the measure passed committee on May 16, 2019 and passed the full City Council on June 12, 2019.
Those approvals are separate from the alley access now at issue, but they demonstrate a long history of City approvals connected to the business and property.
Why Was Alley Access Denied?
That remains the biggest unanswered question.
Quiroga’s petition says previous aldermen supported the business’s ability to operate and asks residents to support restoring its alley access.
However, a review of publicly available City records did not uncover a denial letter, administrative decision or other document explaining why the City stopped allowing the business to use the alley.
It is therefore unclear whether the decision resulted from traffic or pedestrian-safety concerns, zoning or licensing requirements, neighborhood complaints, a change in City policy, or another issue.
There also is not currently public evidence establishing whether 44th Ward Ald. Bennett Lawson supports or opposes restoring the alley access.
Lawson represents the area containing the Southport Corridor and succeeded longtime Ald. Tom Tunney in 2023.
Quiroga’s Turns to Its Neighbors
For now, the owners are taking their case directly to the neighborhood.
The online petition asks signers whether they live in the 44th Ward and requests their name, street address and signature. According to the petition, the information will be used to validate the signatures before they are submitted to elected officials.
The effort puts the future of a decades-old Southport business into the hands of both City officials and a neighborhood that has changed dramatically since Quiroga’s first began washing cars there.
Whether the City will reconsider the alley-access decision — and what led to it in the first place — remains unclear.
Residents interested in reviewing or signing the petition can find it here.
Southport Corridor News and Events - Chicago, Illinois 