AUBURN - Whenever Michael Wachs is in Auburn, the shopping center mogul grabs a cup of coffee at Drive-Thru Joe.

Now, he's grabbed Drive Thru Joe itself.

Jennifer Finch, owner of the coffee and ice cream shop at the corner of Seward and Grant avenues, is having the building moved at the end of the month to Grant Avenue Plaza in Sennett. Wachs owns the plaza, as well as Auburn Plaza and shopping centers elsewhere in upstate New York.

"I love Drive-Thru Joe," Wachs said. "I've always been fond of their coffee. I'm excited about them coming into my plaza."

The move is necessary to make way for Walgreens, which will be built near where Drive-Thru Joe stands now. The former P&C supermarket behind Drive-Thru Joe will be demolished to make room for what the developer of that project hopes will be new retail stores. HDL Property Group LLC doesn't yet have a demolition permit, but it is imminent, hence the need to move Drive-Thru Joe. Finch and her daughter, Shannon, have operated the business five years. It's always been in the P & C Plaza, but the Finches made sure they'd be able to move the structure if it became necessary.

"It was custom-built to be movable," Jennifer Finch said. "It sits on a steel frame."

Auburn Crane & Rigging owner Steve Bilinksi and Dan Botinari, who built Drive-Thru Joe, have been consulting each other about the move. Finch said plans right now call for plumbers and electricians to shut off the water and power on July 29, and to lift the building with a crane and put it on a trailer the next day for its trip down Grant Avenue.

The building will move about a mile. Finch said it will likely be done in the early morning to avoid creating traffic snarls.

The move isn't cheap, Finch said, noting it is costing "well into the thousands."

All new utility services have to be established at Auburn Plaza. Finch is hopeful that can be accomplished quickly and Drive-Thru Joe can re-open Aug. 2.

She would have preferred to leave Drive-Thru Joe where it is, but that wasn't an option. One of the businesses that HDL hopes to attract is Starbucks.

The coffeehouse chain has confirmed it is looking at the Walgreens project, but no decisions have been made. Finch said it would have been interesting, but she wouldn't have been put off, even if a Starbucks opened near her.

"We're not afraid; we had Dunkin' Donuts across the street," she said. "But we're OK with the move. We're looking forward to it now."

She said she knew who Wachs was when he came through Drive-Thru Joe, although she didn't know him well. Still, he was the first one she thought to contact when she knew the move was coming.

"We almost have to be in a plaza," she said. "We're a busy little coffee shop, and needed a place where we could 'stack' cars as they go through the drive-thru. There were other locations, but you just don't have that 'stack-ability' anywhere else."

She doesn't think the move will have a great impact on her business, although she said she might lose some customers who don't pass by the new location on their commute to work in the morning. But then again, she expects to attract new customers who drive Grant Avenue into Syracuse, or patrons at Movieplex 10 looking for a cup of coffee after catching a film.

"And it's really a better location, because it's not so congested," she said. "I worried about being at the intersection. There were accidents all of the time in the winter."

Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net