Local Dutch Bros operator Steve Grubbs of Roseville filed a design review permit on May 31 with the Citrus Heights Planning Department. Drawings provided by Grubbs Investments, LLC

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - With a change in color scheme from bright red and white to dark blue and gray, and minor interior and exterior improvements, the shuttered former Rally’s burger drive-thru at the corner of Grand Oaks Boulevard and Auburn Boulevard in Citrus Heights could soon see new life as the city’s third Dutch Bros quick service coffee location.

Local Dutch Bros operator Steve Grubbs of Roseville filed a design review permit on May 31 with the Citrus Heights Planning Department to convert the shuttered 827-square-foot Rally’s and reutilize “the existing building and exterior patio ‘as is’ with minor interior improvements for the necessary Dutch Bros equipment platform.”

The former Rally’s opened in October 2021 and closed this past January.

Grubbs also operates additional Dutch Bros locations at 7445 Madison Ave. in Citrus Heights and at 7853 Lichen Drive in the Raley’s-anchored Summer Hills Plaza near Interstate 80 and Antelope Road.

The design review permit is under consideration by city planners for approval.

The front and side views of the former Rally’s drive-thru features a boomerang-style roof and faces Auburn Boulevard. Photo by Thomas J. Sullivan

Construction of traffic improvements at the corner of Grand Oaks Boulevard and Auburn Boulevard are under Phase 2 of the Auburn Boulevard Complete Streets project is continuing.

Contractors are working on the west side of the boulevard, completing sidewalk improvements before utility companies complete the undergrounding of utility lines.

The front façade of the former Rally’s, which features a boomerang-style roof and faces Auburn Boulevard, would also remain largely as is, Grubbs said.

A preliminary project drawing submitted with the design review permit shows a new paint scheme consistent with Dutch Bros brand prototypical exterior dark blue tile and gray trim color scheme, Grubbs wrote.

The design review permit was submitted by Grubbs, who is doing business as Grubbs Investments, LLC of Roseville. The drive-thru restaurant on Auburn Boulevard is across from Cripple Creek Road and located in the same parking lot as Steve Cook’s Fireside Lanes.

Grubbs said there are no proposed changes likely to the access or the internal circulation of the site or its drive through configuration, except for painting of wayfinding and directional elements to accommodate the Dutch Bros double drive through stack.

Construction of traffic improvements at the corner of Grand Oaks Boulevard and Auburn Boulevard under Phase 2 of the Auburn Boulevard Complete Streets project is continuing. Drawings provided by Grubbs Investments, LLC

“The site, as it exists, can comfortably hold a total of 22 cars in the stack without impeding traffic exiting from the drive thru or stacking onto the adjacent property or street frontages,” Grubbs said.

Street and sidewalk improvements are underway at Grand Oaks Boulevard, where customers will enter and exit the new Dutch Bros quick serve drive thru before returning to Auburn Boulevard, which is controlled by a traffic signal.

An existing trash enclosure located just behind the drive-thru will be refurbished and painted, Grubbs said, and current existing site grades and drainage, as well as landscaping, which is now disturbed by road construction but would be restored, will remain intact.

Dutch Bros Coffee is a quick service coffee chain headquartered in Grants Pass, Oregon, with company-owned and franchise locations throughout the United States.