DAYTONA BEACH ― Site work recently got underway on a vacant lot next to the super-sized Buc-ee's gas station/convenience store here.
While there are no "coming soon" signs on the site, a clue can be found in the Buc-ee's cartoon beaver logo on the black construction fence facing LPGA Boulevard.
Here's what we know about the project:
It's going to be a Buc-ee's car wash
Jeff Nadalo, general counsel for Buc-ee's Ltd., confirmed in an email on Monday that the 1.55-acre fenced-off site at 1610 Technology Blvd. is slated to become home to a Buc-ee's car wash.
"Buc-ee's expects to open the car wash in Daytona within the next 8-10 months," Nadalo wrote. "Currently we expect the hours of operation to be from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. While no fuel purchase is required to buy a car wash, if a customer purchases the 'Works' car wash, he will be able to receive a fuel discount of 20 cents per gallon. ... Customers will remain in their vehicles during the car wash."
The car wash will be staffed, he added. He did not say how many jobs it will create.
Daytona Buc-ee's is already a big draw
The Lake Jackson, Texas-based chain opened its Buc-ee's gas station and travel convenience center at 2330 Gateway North Drive in Daytona Beach in March 2021. It is located on the northeast corner of the Interstate 95/LPGA Boulevard interchange.
Susan Cerbone, a spokeswoman for the City of Daytona Beach, said a recent study found that the Buc-ee's here drew an estimated 5.4 million visitors over a 12-month period. The average length of stay for those visitors was a half-hour.
The 104-pump gas station is tied with the Buc-ee's in St. Augustine as the largest in Florida. Its gas prices are typically among the lowest in the Daytona Beach area, according to GasBuddy.com.
The 53,000-square-foot Buc-ee's travel convenience center sells a vast array of snacks, hot barbecue sandwiches and other deli items, as well as travel goods and souvenirs.
The Daytona car wash going to be super long
The Buc-ee's car wash tunnel in Daytona Beach will be 235 feet in length, Nadalo wrote.
That would make it one of the largest in Florida, nearly twice the 120-foot average length of car wash tunnels nationally, according to car wash industry news website DRB is 120 feet.
To put it in context, the Mister Car Wash one block away at 1881 LPGA Blvd. that opened in 2019 at a Superwash Express is 145 feet long.
Taking a ride through the world's 'trippiest car wash'
A Houston, Texas publication called Houstonia Magazine published an article on a Buc-ee's Car Wash in Katy, Texas, shortly after it opened in 2017. It described riding through it as a psychedelic experience.
"Within seconds, the Buc-ee's beaver logo was splashed across my windshield, a spirit animal to guide me through this transcendent experience," wrote Houstonia writer Sarah Rufca Nielsen.
"As we soaped up, splashes of red, yellow and blue turned the world outside into a colorful kaleidoscope. It was, for a moment, as close to as life gets to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. ... The individual colors melted into pretty waves ― red swirled with a hint of yellow, mimicked a particularly lovely sunset just outside my driver side window ― before coalescing into a muddy greenish brown."
The 255-foot-long Buc-ee's Car Wash in Katy, Texas, was confirmed when it opened as the world's longest car wash tunnel by the Guinness Book of World Records.
A 400-foot Bubble Down Car Wash opened this past February in Tampa, but Buc-ee's spokeswoman Rachel Austin in an email on Tuesday wrote that the Buc-ee's car wash in Katy, Texas, remains the world's longest.
"The car wash in Tampa is actually around 200 feet and claims it is 400 feet because there are two bays side-by-side," Austin wrote. "Buc-ee's still holds the record for the longest car wash."
An employee at the Bubble Down Car Wash at 2491 S. Falkenburg Road in Tampa on Tuesday confirmed that the car wash has two side-by-side car wash tunnels, as opposed to it being one long tunnel.
Length matters when it comes to car washes
"The longer the tunnel, the higher the quality of the wash and the higher the volume you will be able to serve effectively," said industry expert Steve Gaudreau in a 2017 article published by Carwash.com. "Successful operations, if they have the real estate and project high volume, choose to build their tunnels as long as possible."
Building permit sheds more light on Daytona project
The estimated cost to build the standalone 8,886-square-foot Buc-ee's Car Wash at 1610 Technology Blvd. is $7.5 million, according to the building permit issued by the City of Daytona Beach on Oct. 27. The project's general contractor is J. Raymond Construction Corp.
How much will it cost to get your car washed?
According to Nadalo, the Buc-ee's Car Wash in Daytona Beach will offer two options: a "basic" wash that costs $13 or a "works" wash for $16.
