Champion Xpress Carwash, which operates an automated tunnel car wash on East Carl Sandburg Drive, plans to build a second Galesburg car wash on North Henderson Street.
With 22 locations across New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Iowa and Illinois, Champion Xpress last week purchased the site of a former car wash at 1819 N. Henderson Street. Local developer Rob Benedict, who had plans to build his own tunnel car wash on site, sold the property for $1.45 million to Via Real Estate LLC (Champion Xpress) on Friday, Dec. 9.
Lindsey Joy, director of marketing for the Champion Xpress chain, said construction of a second Galesburg location is expected to start in spring 2023, with an anticipated opening early in 2024.
Joy tells WGIL, “We’ve had two locations in towns even smaller than Galesburg, and they’ve done very well. So, we’re excited about Galesburg and having a secondary location.
“Typically what we know about express car washes is that it’s important for people to get in and out fast. For us to continue to grow, sometimes we’ll open a second location so people can get the fast experience and we can serve more customers.”
Benedict purchased the former Southards Car Wash on North Henderson Street for $1,195,000 on Nov. 5, 2021. At the time, Benedict said he planned to demolish the old facility and build a new tunnel car wash. The old car wash was demolished earlier this year.
“Basically, (Champion Xpress) came into town to look at the other tunnel car wash, and they liked our location,” Benedict said. “They tracked me down and asked if I would be interested in selling it. I gave them a price, and they accepted.
“I’m still supposed to be involved in the actual build of it, but I’m a little disappointed I won’t be in on the operation side of it. I would have liked to seen it through, but it just made sense for my family and myself to make other investments in the community.”
Benedict, president of Mechanical Service Inc., previously was an investor in Super Clean Car Wash at 334 E. Carl Sandburg Dr.
Joy said Galesburg’s second location on North Henderson Street will follow Champion’s build model which includes a longer tunnel.
According to its website, Champion Xpress Carwash has an aggressive expansion goal of adding 70-plus sites by 2023.
