Company expanding nationwide chooses Rockmart for latest big build

A new Mach-1 Express Car Wash is coming to Rockmart, and it’ll be the largest tunnel the company has constructed yet in their growing chain of locations nationwide. 

Officials gathered on Tuesday morning as work was already underway at a parcel in front of Walmart where plans are already moving forward for the new car wash, which will have a 160-foot long tunnel to accommodate drivers looking to get their rides shiny and clean in an efficient amount of time. 

The Centre, Alabama-based Triple C Development is responsible for this and other area Mach-1 Car Wash locations (including the ones in Cedartown and Cartersville locally) and are in the process of expanding into locations as far north as New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and as far south as Miami, Florida. 

Fran Blanchard, the Director of Real Estate for Triple C Development, was joined by broker Bob Carlton, city officials, Mayor Sherman Ross and others from Mach-1 Car Wash to dig the ceremonial shovelful of dirt up for the new location, which is expected to open this summer. 

Preliminary work is already being done on the site, including a large hole in the ground dug up to accommodate the several thousands of gallons that will be processed through four different tanks (some as large as 2,000 gallons) to make sure none of the runoff enters the city’s sewer system without first being processed. 

Location was a primary factor for Mach-1 to come to the area, according to Blanchard. He said company owner Jay Machleit had his eye on this particular lot in Rockmart for several years, and when the opportunity came to pass he jumped at the chance. 

“He loved that lot in front of Walmart, and we’ve been after it for a while,” he said. “(Carlton) was actually able to make that happen for us, and we went through the procedure to get on the Walmart outparcel, which is a perfect for us especially for the size of our tunnel.” 

He added that “the people of Rockmart are fantastic, and we thought we could bring a really nice wash to that area.”

The tunnels for the car wash can range in size from 100 feet to 160 feet based on what Mach-1 is building past and present, and they opted for the longer tunnel for the new Rockmart location based on the lot size and how many cars they hope to accommodate at a time. 

Mach-1 Car Wash has a location in Cedartown in front of Walmart on Highway 27, and another in Cartersville on Hillview Avenue at the intersection of Highway 411 and Highway 20.