What's being built across the street from Taco Bell in Ellettsville?

A Washworldcar wash is coming to the southern part of Ellettsville, across from the Taco Bell and the IU Credit Union.

Developer Jay Strauss said the project will include an 8,000-square-foot building with four automatic bays and three self-service bays. Three of the automatic bays will offer touchless washing.

Strauss said he hopes to break ground soon.

“We’ll probably be washing cars by early fall,” he said.

Patrons will enter and exit the car wash from North Kemp Road, which intersects with Ind. 46. Kemp Road also serves as ingress/egress for the Ellis Ridge Subdivision and Flats on 46 Apartments.

Ellettsville Planning Director Denise Line said the town has one carwash already, but it's an older one, and she has heard from the community that it would support another one.

Strauss, who is based in Orleans, said he builds about 30 car washes a year in three states, mostly for other investors, but he said he will retain ownership of the Ellettsville facility. He also owns the WashWorld in Bloomington, at the northeast corner of the intersection of South Walnut Street and East Rohrer Road.

Strauss said he has had his eye on the Kemp Road property for a while.

“Ellettsville is a pretty busy town,” he said.

The WashWorld in Ellettsville is at least the third car wash to be planned in the area in the last year. Last summer, the owners of two eastside Bloomington restaurants filed plans to raze the structures to make room for a car wash. A new car wash also is being planned next to the Culver’s in Bloomington.

As towns grow and people have less time, demand for such services as car washes increases, Strauss said.

Patrons value speed, he said, and that means offering enough bays to limit wait times.

For investors, car washes are attractive in part because a lot of the business is automated, Strauss said. And over the years, equipment has improved so that it needs very little maintenance.

The American car wash services market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.5%, reaching nearly $24 billion by 2030, according to a 2023 market analysis by Research and Markets. The analysis indicated the proliferation of such businesses was fueled in part by investor interest "due to minimum labor requirements, high volumes and quick returns."

According to the International Car Wash Association, the rising number of car washes reflects consumer demand: According to a 2023 ICWA survey, 79% of respondents said they prefer a professional car wash over washing their vehicles at home. That's up from 52% in 1996.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: What's being built across from Taco Bell on SR 46 in Ellettsville?