In Jacksonville, Florida a company known for its plethora of gas stations and convenience stores is making good on its promise to build a new chain of standalone car washes. Gate Petroleum announced its intentions last year with a ballpark number of about 20 locations in the near future. They had already acquired parcels of land for seven of those locations.
Now The Florida Times-Union has a list of the latest locations and details of the first one. Some of the Gate car washes will be near already existing Gate gas stations and convenience stores and some will be in entirely new locations for the company. The first location planned for Jacksonville, happens to be about a block away from an existing storefront for the company.
Gate paid $1.1 million in 2013 for about 2 acres to build a convenience store and gas station just up Emerson from Philips. But after the Wendy’s went in next door, there wasn’t room for a car wash next to the Gate. So the company paid $1.4 million for 1.5 acres on the southeast corner of Philips and Emerson.
“We’ve always been in the car wash business,” Hill Peyton, president of Gate Express Car Wash told the newspaper later year. “But we wanted to offer something quicker and less expensive.”