“Robert, a lack of stewardship on the part of the owner, the industry, the "experts", all of the above?”
In this case, lack of stewardship refers to the company that supplied the equipment.
If a real estate agent was involved, as in the carwash operator purchased this land rather than already owned it, throw them under the bus too.
Free standing carwash is similar to other support services such as gas/c-store, drive-through, etc. They are highway-oriented.
However, this carwash is land-locked.
It can’t be seen from the street. It has no direct access to surrounding residential areas. I bet the owner isn’t allowed a street sign. And so forth.
This is not super-station gas site, maybe 250K GPM. So, maybe it washes 20,000 CPY and split profit with station. So, $1.5 million, good luck.
If fact, pondering highest and best use all I can think of is professional office like psychiatrist.
I’d fault developer also because obviously due diligence was insufficient.
Otherwise, this gem wouldn’t be for sale.