"Forty-four years and quite a bit of brake dust later, Ashley's Wheel and Brake is moving on to bigger, better things. That's 9,800 square feet bigger, to be exact, and just a city block over from Ashley's longtime location on East Third Street. The new building is a state-of-the-art renovation of the vacated Phelps Roofing Company space on Second Street, near the Lyric Theater.
"It's going to be a big step up for us," said Stan Eldridge, who co-owns Ashley's with his brother. It has been in the Eldridge family since their father, Garry, purchased it from the original owner in 1977.
The old location is a five-bay facility. It has no showroom or customer waiting area, little storage space, and no available room to expand. It is showing wear and feels cluttered. The Eldridges had owned two adjacent houses, which they used for storage, but recently sold them to defray expenses on the new facility. In the meantime, boxes and papers are stacked on floors, on desks, and wherever else Stan can squeeze a square inch.
"We've outgrown this," said Eldridge, gesturing around at the old facility and patting his eight-year-old border collie-Newfoundland mix, Jetta, a Humane Society rescue who greets every customer. "Let's face it - the cars have gotten bigger, and now we don't have the room to keep what we're servicing. We either needed to tear down and start over, or rebuild."
The Eldridges spent months researching new locations and planning a move. At one point, they considered opening a second location away from downtown, or leaving downtown entirely, perhaps for Hamburg Pavilion. The expenditure necessary to purchase land and develop a new site at Hamburg, however, proved cost-prohibitive, and respect for the urban core's resurgence made the brothers want to stay in the neighborhood.
"Property out at Hamburg's outrageous," Eldridge said, raising an eyebrow. "We have this [new] building finished for almost what it would have cost us to buy the land."
The new Ashley's Wheel and Brake is a 13,000-square-foot dream for Eldridge. When completed in early August, it will
have eight car bays, brand-new pneumatic and electrical systems, a spacious locker room for technicians, a car wash area, a showroom large enough to accommodate a display car, more parking for customers, and a parts warehouse. Increasing specialization of newer cars requires services like Ashley's to carry more diagnostic equipment and parts, according to Stan, and he will now have room to do so. "The basic car right now has more computers in it than the space shuttle does. We have to have a whole lot more on hand."
"I have a new appreciation for people in the construction business," he chuckled. "I thought you go in and put a building in, and that was it."
Instead, Eldridge faced the daunting challenge of coordinating zoning permits, plumbing work, heating and air conditioning, landscaping permits, sprinkler system installation, new utility lines, wall demolition, insuring the building was brought up to modern code and Americans with Disabilities Act standards, and installing a new roof. "I'm glad we went with a general contractor," he said.
All told, the company is making an investment of $850,000 to $900,000 to redevelop the space - still far cheaper than building new in outlying boom areas, Eldridge said. And Eldridge is impressed with downtown Lexington's effort to reinvent itself. He believes residential redevelopment, condominium construction and office remodeling will bring him a new customer base. Coupled with its now vastly increased shop space, he said Ashley's can only stand to gain. Eldridge is currently involved in forming a trade association of downtown automotive business owners to support urban core renewal.
Eldridge said Ashley's will remain primarily a wheel and brake service, but did not discount the possibility that the extra infrastructure may allow his business to add new services to its repertoire. For now, though, they are concentrating on their opening this month, and tongue-in-cheek, on making the first payment. He estimates the new facility could yield a 60 to 100 percent increase in business volume.
"First we have to learn how to work the building and learn its economies," he said. "It gives us an opportunity to really make a change for the better."
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