January 28 2006 Update

Just some brief updates, and a new development or two:

Edson Car Wash: Exterior and Interior walls are going up currently. I should have updated pictures on http://edsoncarwash.blogspot.com within a week's time as I will be making a site visit next Sunday (February 5 2006). Mechanical and Electrical details will be making up the majority of our focus as soon as the floor has been poured.

Fort Car Wash: Good weather has brought good business with it, but we are still having trouble with the exit door. It appears people are trying to race the door as it is closing and either hitting the door or having it hit their vehicles. Temporary solution is to put up a sign on the interior bollard indicating people should slow down and use caution as the door closes automatically.

I am currently researching other door products in place of the clear plastic doors we had hoped to replace our current doors with in the phase one renovations. The door currently with the greatest focus is the airplane hangar style door. This door opens width wise, instead of up and down and should allow for quicker in/out times. The main problem with this style of system will be the renovation of our office area as the door will recess into that area when open. Hopefully the supplier we have been referred to (http://www.sunshinedoor.com) will have something that can work for us. Mind you, the sunshine door by itself may be the right way to go with some different controls for the doors.

Refinancing: Still ongoing. Seems like December and January are not the best months to approach financing companies.

Possible New Vehicle Washes:

1) Original West End Location ("Dungeon")
2) West End highway location (Truck Stop Development)
3) Former Bikini Truck Wash location (Financing may be extremely difficult)
4) Edmonton-Calgary Highway location (Truck Stop Development)
5) Toronto area Car Wash currently for sale


Edson Commercial Condos: Traffic Impact Assessment. Nothing can be done until this is complete.

Commerical Strip Center: Still awaiting owner's response. A second strip center opportunity may be coming our way near the city of Edmonton. Much smaller in size (7500 Square feet), but the right development should move this building from it's current asking price of $750,000 to a worth of just over $1,000,000 within a one year time frame.

Land Development Corporation: Meeting with potential partners on February 2 2006.

Urban Market: The Urban Market research team is in full swing this weekend, visiting local flea markets and determining if this is truly a worthwhile venture. Table widths, table rentals, number of repeated vendors, number of MLMers, quality of building, cleaniless of facilities, along with a host of other issues will be researched and analyzed. The major stumbling block will be the traffic flow in and out of such establishments, along with the quality of vendors they attract.

Rental rates for this type of development have been confirmed, and our original assumptions have been verified. Break-even occupancy is below 50%. Meeting with a potential manager on February 2 2006.

And as a side diversion, I'm hosting a Cashflow Game (a mixture of 101 and 202) on February 2 2006 - and as always, here's to the future and all it holds.