My wife and I had been considering moving to a 3-5 acre piece of property that would be big enough for a house as well as an out-building (workshop/mancave).

We’ve decided to stay in our current home, but with my minor addiction to cars/toys, we’ve maxed out the 4 car capacity of our current garage and I don’t have any room for my project Cobra build.

Solution (excuse to buy) = garage condo.

Part storage, part workspace, part place to escape.

Location is the Auto Motorplex facility (40 acres) outside of Minneapolis. The host facility for the Minneapolis Cars & Coffee and Cycles & Coffee events.

There are currently 7 out of 11 buildings complete, with approximately 175 garage condo units and a 4000 square foot clubhouse with a bar/big screen tv’s/kitchen for ‘owner’ gatherings, events and such.

The unit we’re building-out is 1600 square feet (40x40) with a 16’x40’ mezzanine. Ceiling height is 18’. The upstairs will have a kitchen, ¾ bath, living room type area (flat screen/wi-fi), office and deck for cigar smoking. The bottom level will be a full workshop with a couple of lifts, storage room, 220V power, in-floor heat, wash bay/drains, another flat screen, and a lot of room for cabinets/tools.

I thought some of you might find the build-out process interesting.

Here’s the rough plan, some initial pics of the full-length (80') shell, and a few after the mid-wall was installed of the mezzanine i-beam and mezzanine decking going in (today).

I’ll add to this as the build continues.

See ya.

Edit - overview pic below of the AutoMotorplex compound during one of the Cars & Cafe events last summer - courtesy of LuisGT3

Edit - if you want to skip the build pics/posts and get to the final product, see posts 219/220.

 

Lookin good Chris. Looking forward to changing the name of our event to Cars and Bloody Mary's now.

 

Thanks. The fridge will be 'stocked'

If I have any money left, I might get me one of those snazzy P-cars

 

That is awesome...like a clubhouse for grown ups!

 

Let me know, and I will find you a perfect one.

 

Semi grown up.. Depends who's in attendance

 

More progress.. stairs and closet framed, beam cut to length, and flooring being installed.

 

Chris -

You are a true baller now.

Bruno was giving me the hard sell more than once. I was in the process of selling the condos we have out in Minnetrista and moving over to the Motorplex when we bought our new house. Good thing new house came with a 40X80 shop or I would have been spending right along with you.

Can't wait to see it all finished. Looks like a good place to enjoy a beer and a football game on the big screen.

Careful on the P-car thing. That is another slippery slope my friend.

 

I got six words for ya.....stripper pole stripper pole stripper pole.

 

I just sent him a link to a craigslist ad yesterday for a portable stripper pole/stage.

 

Mini-baller.. Just trying to keep up with you and the rest of the big ballers.

I like to indulge Luis with thoughts of P-cars It would be nice to finally just buy one, but I've got the Cobra project first, then I'm going to buy a Jeep Rubi to beat on. Maybe next summer.

How's the Caddy vs M5 decision going?

You have your own man-cave now - no need to share a wall

 

That would be unwise at this juncture in my early married life

 

The M5 / CTS-V decision has taken a very unexpected but exciting turn. I will have a thread up about it shortly

 

Can't wait <popcorn>

BTW - sorry to hear about your TX run/tranny issues.

 

TX Mile was a lot of fun but ultimately a big bummer. Had trouble shifting car into gear on all runs and ultimately had no 5th gear. Tranny sent back to RPM - they will no warranty anything. Only 5000 miles on unit - RPM stage 5 - the best you can buy.