EMan 928

Hi everyone,

I have been searching for a garage that would give me a space to store my cars in the winter and maybe tinker with them. Well, I came across a good one...a 12,000 square foot warehouse! I don't need that much space for my cars, but I started thinking about maybe starting a little club/business that offered car storage AND the space to work on them. Here are some of my ideas:

Install 2 or 3 Rotary 2 post lifts.
Bring in about 15 to 20 4 post lifts to maximize car storage space (building has 16 foot ceilings)
Have a dust free detail area separate from the storage/lift area.
Have a few PC workstations so owners could do searches for parts, technical info., etc. Building also has 2500 square feet of office space so this could be a cool lounge area.

I have the liability piece of the puzzle figured out, but I'm trying to determine feasibility. Living in the Motor City area, I'm sure I can find 50 or so owners that would like having a space like this to keep their cars and be able to work on them in the winter. Not sure if I could count on those same customers year round. What do you think?

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

ssarchi

Sounds like a nice place to learn and do.

Do a search in the NYT- about three weeks ago there was an article on a guy/company that was providing similar services (more of a fancy storage/detail/simple upgrade kind of place)

Very interested in hooking up with other SE Michigan owners.....

Tim993

My only concern would be the security of my car. I would presume that others storing their car would have access to come and go so they could work on their cars.

007DT

On paper it sounds like a great idea. I'd love to have more garage space and I'd love even more to have garage space shared w/ other P-Car guys or just car guys to BS and help eachother out. That said, I see 2 issues.

1. Security (liability): If this place is a storage, hang-out, work on your car, clean your car, place I'd want to be sure my car is safe there.
2. Logistics: I'd sign up for your Garage if it was close to me. I can't be too far from my toys.

I like the idea, but I'm afraid I'd have separation anxiety from Michigan to Atlanta.
my $.02

ssarchi

Tools- whose? How to secure those and access?

The NYC gig is staffed- but it is not for do-it-yourselfers....

Individual stalls?

Texas993

A friend of mine is building a high end facility like you describe. His are more like condos and start at $300k. Each unit will have a garage and a upper lounge area. He has already set up a high end car sales group (ecarlink) to move their operation next door. He has 25 units and is about 1 year from completion.

I hope that he does well. BTW, he has 7 pcars, the newest one is an '86 Speedster.

993c2cab

I like it. Maybe a security key fob for access that a computer can track whos on site at any givin time and also a whole bunch of cameras.. vegas style. I would love to have a place like rennlist in real life not just cyberspace.

Davies

You should contact these guys and ask them. http://collectorscargarage.com/home.html#
I was at an event there recently and it sounds a lot like what you are describing.

matt777

Interesting idea. I read an article in the local paper where a guy bought a piece of land and then built garage condos (no living quarters). I think his clients had a 99 year lease on the land and bought their garages. Starting prices were $40k for a 100 sq ft I believe. In my opinion, your target clients would be higher income car buffs who live in condos. Pure storage can be obtained pretty cheaply. I would be interested in a communal work shop idea if it was close to home and inexpensive. I can't see there being much money in it for the owner. I've seen the "rent a garage" places that charge $40/hour for a stall and lift access but that is something different.

2Many Cars

Here are two businesses in the SF area that do pretty much what you are talking about. The businesses are different though, one is a car storage place without a place to work on the cars, the other is a rental do-it-youself shop. I would imagine you could easily combine the two but you'd probably want to be able to limit access to the shop side to protect tools and/or projects that are underway. Hope this helps some.

http://bayareamotorclub.com/

http://sausalitoclassiccarstorage.com/

NOH20

Hey neighbor,

I have often thought about the exact same thing. My friend and I have discussed this numerous times. I would be interested in talking to you about it. I think there is a market for such a thing.

Brad

ssarchi

Post no 8 is the NYC facility that was in the NYT a few weeks ago.

InTheAir

You could put it in my garage....and leave the keys.

I have an open space, which you've seen.

Randy M '96 Silver 993

www.autokennel.com in So Cal sounds like it has some of the aspects in your idea.

EMan 928

Hi Guys.

Thanks for the great responses! And the links, too. Very interesting to see what others are doing in the marketplace. I think the idea has legs.

Security is definitley a concern, and rightly so.

Brad, pm me with your phone number if you'd like to talk more about this.

Jeff, I'd be happy to drop off the 993 for the winter. And, I would leave the keys with you. I even have the same black car cover you had on yours...undercover, it would look exactly like your old C4!