Two new Quick Quack sites in California trade for $8.63 million
Private investors acquired newly built Murrieta and Riverside car washes under 20-year triple-net ground leases before either location opened.
By The Car Wash News Staff
3 min read
Two newly built Quick Quack Car Wash properties in Murrieta and Riverside, California, changed hands for a combined $8.63 million, according to reporting from Professional Carwashing & Detailing. RealSource Group arranged both sales on behalf of two private Southern California developers.
Both deals closed before the locations opened for business, and each carries a new 20-year absolute triple-net ground lease. RealSource's Austin Blodgett, senior vice president of investment sales, and Jonathan Schiffer, CCIM, senior associate, represented the sellers.
Details of the two transactions
A private international investor bought the Murrieta location at 39480 Murrieta Hot Springs Road for $4.53 million, with Dustin Lee of JK Realtage Group Inc. representing the buyer. The 3,600-square-foot wash sits on a one-acre parcel near an intersection that sees more than 60,000 cars a day, with Interstates 215 and 15 nearby. The property was completed in 2026 near several shopping centers and national retailers.
The Riverside wash at 3605 Van Buren Boulevard sold for $4.1 million to a private Los Angeles-based investor who represented themselves. Completed in 2025, the 3,596-square-foot building sits on a 1.14-acre parcel at an intersection carrying more than 50,000 cars a day. The site falls within Veterans Plaza and Meridian Business Park, a 1,290-acre development expected to eventually hold 16 million square feet of building space and create up to 15,000 jobs.
Ground-lease structure drove buyer education
The ground-lease format shaped how the properties were marketed. Blodgett said many express car wash investors chase fee-simple deals to capture bonus depreciation, so RealSource fielded a high volume of inquiries explaining the appeal of the ground-lease arrangement. He said both properties "generated significant interest, but the ground-lease structure required careful buyer education."
Schiffer said the firm built in protections to bridge the gap between closing and store opening. The Riverside deal used an escrow holdback and rent-commencement protections, while at Murrieta, Quick Quack was already paying rent despite not yet being open. Both buyers had prior experience in the Inland Empire, and Schiffer noted the Murrieta purchaser had previously been placed into a McDonald's ground lease in the region.
Why it matters for operators
The sales underline how large chains like Quick Quack continue to fund expansion by separating real estate ownership from wash operations. Selling a completed site to a passive investor while committing to a long-term triple-net lease frees up capital that can be redeployed into new construction, a model that lets operators grow site count without tying up cash in land and buildings.
For operators weighing their own real estate strategy, the deals highlight a key tension in the current market. Investors often prefer fee-simple purchases so they can claim bonus depreciation on the improvements, which can make ground-lease offerings harder to sell without extra education and structuring. Operators who own their sites and want to sell and lease back should understand that the lease structure they choose will affect the buyer pool and the price. Strong tenant credit, high-traffic intersections, and long lease terms remain the fundamentals that make a car wash property attractive, even when the deal structure is less common.
