Steele builds liquor store, car wash
Jim Steele is putting up a new building in Florence. It will be a liquor store. He hopes to have it open by Sept. 1, at 900 West Fifth.
Later, he will add a car wash, in a separate building, nearby to the east.
"There used to be a Dairy Queen right here," Steele said Saturday, referring to the spot where he is erecting the 30-by-50-foot building for the liquor store.
"My walk-in cooler will be here by July 21," Steele said. His father bought the 150-by-150-foot lot in 1976, he said.
Florence does not have a car wash, and the city offered to "run water up here for one," he said.
"It's a chore getting all the paperwork done and so forth," he said. "My buddies have helped me a lot with the walls, the rafters, and pouring the concrete. We've had 'work parties.' You know who your friends are when they help you like that."
There will be a circle drive approaching the two businesses, on the north, he said. He plans to remove several trees on the east side of the property.
The liquor store will be called C.W. Liquor, in honor of his father, Steele said. He plans to have two stalls for cars and one for trucks (cabs only, most likely) in the car wash.
These will be the first new commercial buildings to go up in Florence in quite some time.
Steele works at Boeing in Wichita, in the company's military aircraft division. He makes scaffolding.
