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Six QuestionsIn last month’s issue of Modern Car Care, we featured Philip Toppino and Tim Robinson of Elite Car Wash in Clermont, Fla. Elite is a rather uniquely designed wash, set in an office complex. It opened last year, after nearly three years of planning. The wash has been a big hit, thanks in part to the building’s structure and the sound-proofing necessary in a multi-office building (also thanks to the water cannons and theater seating around a high-definition flat screen TV!). This month, we asked Toppino, a real estate developer, to share his thoughts and advice about carwash design. Q What’s your guideline for designing an attractive and efficient carwash? Don’t design a carwash; design a multi-profit center. Q What inspired you in your design of Elite Car Wash? How did you decide what it would look and feel like? I’m a young professional and basically took everything I wanted in other carwashes and incorporated it into mine. I develop and build medical and professional office space. So for Elite, I basically designed a three-story office building and put a carwash tunnel behind it. Then we made the first floor the retail area for the carwash. Q Do you receive questions from potential builders or investors? All the time. We have had many carwash “experts” out to tour our property. I haven’t met the right situation to bring on investors. The plan is to take Elite Car Wash to the next level and have one in every city. Q What advice would you give people who are planning to renovate or build a carwash? It depends on whether they already own a successful carwash or are just getting into the business. Ninety-nine percent of the lenders out there hate carwashes. Anyone who tells you differently is just wasting your time. The 1 percent of lenders who like carwashes will charge you an arm and a leg. Q Is architectural creativity important in the car care business? The only part that architecture plays in the design of a carwash is signage. With all the restrictions local municipalities are placing on new construction, your building really becomes your signage if you design properly. Q Some are saying that the carwash business needs to move from a traditional industrial-type look to more of a retail approach, and that the design of a wash needs to reflect that. Do you agree? That’s a hard answer. A carwash is mainly impulse, unless you can create a destination like we have at Elite. Without standing out from the crowd, cars will simply drive right past you. It’s a fine line.
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