Blue Iguana building two Springfield car washes

Last edited 11:32 a.m., April 15, 2020

Springfield-based Blue Iguana Car Wash LLC is in expansion mode, with two new local locations under development.

Owner Greg Byler said the company's second and third Springfield car washes are slated to open this year. The first is scheduled to launch this summer at 3155 S. Campbell Ave., followed by a planned winter opening at 3316 W. Chestnut Expressway.

"We have our eye on two other greenfield sites in the Springfield market that we will likely move forward with after the world gets back to normal," Byler said via email.

For both local construction projects, Fusion Consulting LLC is serving as general contractor, with St. Louis-based Levine Associates as project architect, Byler said.

The South Campbell Avenue car wash is underway adjacent to the former Napleton Autowerks dealership that a U-Haul franchisee purchased last year. On Chestnut Expressway, Blue Iguana will neighbor a Domino's restaurant that opened in December.

A city building permit from October 2019 identified a declared value of nearly $190,000 for the South Campbell Avenue location of Blue Iguana. A building permit is not listed for the Chestnut Expressway car wash, and Byler declined to disclose project costs.

Blue Iguana got its start in 2013, when the company purchased a bankrupt car wash at 1640 E. Sunshine St. and remodeled it, Byler said. The Sunshine Street car wash currently is temporarily closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to its Facebook page.

Byler said Blue Iguana has grown by at least one new store annually since inception, mainly in the St. Louis region. The company's fifth car wash in the St. Louis area is scheduled to open this week, he said.

Blue Iguana currently operates five car washes in Missouri, according to its website. Last year, the company sold three car washes in Kentucky and Indiana to Zips Car Wash, according to a news release on the latter company's website.