A Shawnee coffee shop is expanding its parking lot to meeting the growing demand it’s received since opening in the spring.
On Monday, the Shawnee City Council approved a $20,000 SEED grant loan to Twin Mill Farms Inc. to expand the Station 3 Coffee Shop parking lot at 19115 Midland Drive. The vote was 7-1 with Councilmember Mike Kemmling in dissent.
“We’ve been really busy,” said Courtney Nelson, Station 3 Coffee Shop co-owner. “In our busy times, our parking is overflowing. Even with that parking, we need to enlarge our parking lot.”
The Shawnee Entrepreneurial and Economic Development grant program, or SEED, is a city-run program that provides one-time payments in the form of forgivable loans to businesses as part of the city’s efforts to encourage expansion of existing businesses and attraction of new employers, according to city documents.
Business is booming for the coffee shop
The demand for the coffee shop, which opened up in March, has been so high it was causing safety concerns.
“(It) has been a pretty busy amenity in central Shawnee,” said Colin Duffy, Shawnee deputy city manager. “The parking on Midland Drive has created a bit of a traffic issue, though, and safety concerns with people pulling in and out of Midland Drive.”
In order to address that, the shop will move its parking lot away from the right-of-way on a busy Shawnee road to a private, fenced parking area on the west side of the property. It will also add 17 parking spaces, giving it a total of 31 spaces.
The project will cost $80,000
In total, the project will cost $80,000, with $20,000 in the SEED grant funding being used to offset costs.
The amount the loan covers is in line with recent SEED grant approvals, like Gilda’s and the Franklin General Store, Duffy noted in his presentation.
Twin Mill Farms Inc., has already invested more than $500,000 in the building, not including purchase price and employment of 10 part-time employees, according to city documents.

Councilmembers gave mostly positive feedback
Admitting that she doesn’t normally support SEED grants, Councilmember Jacklynn Walters said she wants to see the coffee shop continue to thrive.
“I think this is one that, especially due to their growing business, the impact that Midland (construction) has (had) and really the turmoil that you all have experienced as a business up until this point, due to Midland-Lawrence Road (construction), all of those factors greatly impact how I plan to support this this evening,” she said.
While he is a patron of the shop, Kemmling said he opposes SEED grants and was voting against the request.
“I think this is a nice coffee house. I have been there before. Maybe I won’t be allowed back after my vote tonight,” he said. “I’ve long advocated against the SEED program and using the money elsewhere in the budget.”
Councilmember Kurt Knappen congratulated the Station 3 Coffee House owners on their success.
“I just want to say great job,” he said. “It’s extremely popular. You’ve been very welcomed here, and I’m happy to see it take off.”
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