A demolition crew from J.A. Snyder Pacific West was busy late last month making way for a Quick Quack Car Wash at 3982 Missouri Flat Road in Placerville. A building at the site once held a Bank of America and later a seasonal Spirit Halloween store. The car wash will join other new additions to the Prospector's Plaza shopping center that was purchased by Gryphon Capital and Rich Development in 2019. Improvements followed in 2020 with Target taking over for a defunct Kmart and other businesses such as Habit Burger, Bath & Body Works and Mountain Mike's Pizza subsequently filling storefronts. In late 2023 a Jersey Mike's sandwich shop opened. Across from the Quick Quack project another building that housed Union Bank was also demolished; construction of new commercial space is now nearly complete at the location — a sign has gone up for a Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins that will neighbor an Aspen Dental office. Gryphon Capital's Chris Shane reports that only "one small vacancy" remains at Prospector's Plaza, which an Umpqua Bank branch previously occupied.

Mountain Democrat photos by Krysten Kellum