Pink Bird Car Wash Flocking to South Florida on Wings of $100M Investment

The first Pink Bird car wash location is set to open in September at 1510 Belvedere Road in West Palm Beach. The company last year paid $1.5 million for that 1.1-acre site, according to property records.

A second Pink Bird car wash is under construction at 879 West Executive Center Drive, near the Palm Beach Outlets in West Palm Beach. The operator last year paid $1.7 million for the 1.2-acre plot, public records show.

Pink Bird isn’t alone in expanding in South Florida. Mint Eco Car Wash said earlier this year that it had raised $150 million to build outposts in Palm Beach County. El Car Wash of Miami also is on an expansion spree; it bought three former Motor City Car Wash locations in Palm Beach County last year.

“There’s a lot of money in the space right now,” Brent Andrews, co-founder and co-CEO of Vybe Investments, told Commercial Observer.

Vybe’s backer is Montgomery Street Partners of Dallas. Pink Bird will join the other car washes in selling monthly subscriptions, a model that appeals to private equity groups.

“That stability in revenue is very valuable,” Andrews said. 

Pink Bird will sell single washes for $9.95 to $19.95 apiece, but the real focus is on monthly packages that offer unlimited washes ranging from $19.95 to $39.95 a month. Like its competitors, Pink Bird locations will operate with a staff of just a few workers, and will offer self-service vacuums.

PInk Bird is focusing on Palm Beach County for now but also is looking at sites in Broward County and as far north as Brevard County, Andrews said.

One obvious hurdle is finding 1-acre sites in prime locations. Another is coping with shortages of construction workers and materials.

“Trying to keep everything on schedule and on budget is a challenge,” Andrews said.

Jeff Ostrowski can be reached at jostrowski@commercialobserver.com.