A commercial laundry operating bicycle delivery and pickup services for linens is seeking to establish operations at the commercial/industrial property located at Willow and Congress Streets.
Wash Cycle Laundry, which originated in Philadelphia and has handled millions of pounds of laundry while pioneering the bicycle laundry model, aims to base its Boston-area operations in Chelsea. The company appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) on Tuesday evening and will present to the Planning Board later this month. The City modified zoning regulations for the Willow Street area in April to allow consideration of this property.
According to Gabriel Mandujano, the company’s founder, Wash Cycle Laundry is arriving now to serve Chelsea’s hotels exclusively, utilizing an innovative tricycle design for laundry collection and delivery throughout the city.
“We leased a portion of the building and are concentrating our efforts on the hotel market,” he said. “Colwen Hotels signed an agreement to bring us to Chelsea. We’re going to be their laundry contractor. The idea is they have a lot of properties in Chelsea, but they have a large portfolio all over Boston too. This will bring those jobs to Chelsea.”
The company plans to operate two shifts daily across seven days weekly, creating approximately 75 jobs total, Mandujano explained.
“We are a sustainable company,” he said. “We do a lot of environmental and energy savings in the plant. We are founded in Philadelphia and pioneered bicycle delivery laundry. We delivered millions and millions of pounds of laundry in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. We are though practically sustainable and not religiously sustainable, so the chiefly concerned about safety.”
Within Chelsea, deliveries would occur by bicycle, though vans and trucks would service Boston and other distant locations, he noted.
Once established, Mandujano indicated the company hopes to expand services to other Chelsea businesses requiring commercial laundry solutions.
The special tricycle cargo bike being deployed in Chelsea has undergone pilot testing by UPS in Portland, Mandujano stated. Following a recent visit to Portland to evaluate the vehicle, he said the company was impressed with its performance.
“We’re fairly confident that would be the vehicle we would use if we come to Chelsea,” he said. “Philadelphia is completely flat, so we need something here with a little more power.”
Mandujano noted the company operates as a second-chance employer, seeking partnerships with local nonprofits to hire at-risk and court-involved residents needing opportunities. Many current employees have experienced homelessness or incarceration, he explained.
“That’s one of the main reasons I founded the company,” he said.
Should approval be granted for the Willow Street location, Mandujano stated the buildout could be completed within approximately 30 days.