AquaShine Express opens first ground-up wash in Winter Haven
The QC Capital-backed platform reaches 10 sites across three states and shifts from acquisition to self-developed construction in a fast-growing Florida metro.
By The Car Wash News Staff
3 min read
AquaShine Express has opened its first purpose-built car wash, a Winter Haven, Florida, location that marks a strategic shift for a platform that had previously grown entirely through acquisition. The site celebrated its grand opening on August 14, bringing the express chain to 10 locations across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
According to reporting from Auto Laundry News, every prior AquaShine site was bought and then improved, while Winter Haven was developed from scratch. Chris Salerno, founder and chief executive of QC Capital Group, said the company chose the corner, poured the concrete, and set operating standards before the first vehicle entered the tunnel. He described the difference plainly, saying the team was not inheriting a car wash but unveiling one.
Betting on a fast-growing metro
The Lakeland-Winter Haven area has been the fastest-growing metro in the United States over the past decade, expanding more than 34 percent between 2014 and 2024. The most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates ranked it fourth nationally in percentage growth, with more than 23,000 residents added in a single year.
Salerno framed that growth as ideal for an express model built on unlimited memberships. New arrivals to a market are still forming daily routines, choosing a grocery store, a commute, and eventually a car wash. An operator already open on the right corner captures those customers before habits harden, avoiding the harder work of winning them away from a competitor later.
A second Winter Haven site is already under construction, with a grand opening expected in winter 2026. Members will hold a single membership honored at both locations. Salerno said the second site was in the plan before the first opened, arguing that density makes a membership more valuable without charging the member more.
Development and the tax advantage
The Winter Haven opening demonstrates a capability QC Capital had not previously shown. The firm built AquaShine through acquisition and conversion, buying existing car wash and express oil and lube assets, rebranding them, and standardizing operations. Ground-up development on self-selected corners, using a shorter-tunnel express format suited to high-traffic, space-efficient sites, represents the other half of that model.
New construction also carries a tax benefit in the current environment. A newly built car wash placed in service establishes a fresh depreciable basis, and the restoration of 100 percent bonus depreciation is especially valuable for express washes. Those projects concentrate a high share of cost in short-life property such as tunnel equipment, site work, and membership technology.
Why it matters for operators
AquaShine's pivot underscores two decisions every growth-minded operator faces: whether to buy and improve or build from the ground up, and how to time market entry. Acquisition offers immediate cash flow but forces operators to work around a previous owner's design and standards. New construction lets an operator set every standard from the start, and in the current tax environment it can unlock meaningful depreciation on short-life equipment that dominates express project budgets.
The demographic logic is also worth noting. Targeting high-growth metros where residents are still forming routines is a way to build membership faster and cheaper than competing for established customers. Operators weighing new sites should study population growth data closely, and consider that clustering multiple washes in one market can deepen membership value through shared access without raising the monthly price.
