Sale of Turner Brothers Garage property will be of interest for many commercial businesses

QUINCY — The ownership of a business started by five brothers more than 90 years ago recently changed hands, and a prized piece of real estate on Broadway soon will be available for purchase.

Turner Brothers Garage had been at 4701-4726 Broadway since 1969, but Dean Turner sold the business in January. It’s now owned by Nick’s Garage, LLC, which is owned by Richard M. Ehrhart.

“My mother (Gloria Turner) hung in there as long as she could possibly hang in there,” Turner said. “She’s 87, and she’s just starting to fail in health. She was in control of everything in the office and all the paperwork. Mom’s the No. 1 owner. She kicked the can down the road as far as she wanted to kick it down the road.

“And basically, I’m in my 60s. I’ve been in this business for 44 years. My wife (Mary) and I have been kind of wanting to get away to do a little traveling.”

The five employees who worked at Turner Brothers Garage continue to work on trucks for Kohl’s Wholesale, BNSF Railway, Farm & Home Supply and Doyle Manufacturing.

“We got fortunate somebody came in and hired all of us guys so nobody had to be fired,” Turner said. 

Two farmhouses were razed in 1968 to make room for the garage to be built by Shortridge Construction. 

Turner Brothers were ‘moving to the country’ in 1969

“When we first moved here, my father said, ‘We’re moving to the country,’” Turner said. “Today, this lot really isn’t suited for a garage any more. After all, this is one of the highest priority corners in Quincy as far as traffic — perhaps for a hotel group, perhaps a Walgreens, perhaps a CVS. It’s for somebody who wants to buy not only the property, but they also want to buy the traffic.”

Turner expects to market the sale of the 3.0678-acre lot in April. A 2.5-acre parcel is zoned C2, but another 0.5-acre parcel is zoned C1B. An ordinance amending the city map to zone the entire property C2 will get a third and final reading during Monday’s City Council meeting. 

“We still have to go about getting an appraisal,” Turner said. “And then we just put our feelers out. After we get the appraisal, we will know what we’re talking about before we can just say, ‘Hey, you want to buy this?’”

A document in the Adams County Recorder’s office signed Jan. 26 says Nick’s Garage is leasing the 2.5-acre lot on the Turner Brothers Property. It also shows both parties agree Nick’s Garage will get the first option to buy the lot. If another company makes a “bona fide” offer, Nick’s Garage will have 30 days to match that offer.

Troup says he can help potential buyers meet with Turner

Quincy Mayor Mike Troup says it helps him to know when prime real estate like the Turner Brothers property is available for sale.

“I don’t have buyers lined up like a realtor or anything like that,” he said. “When Dean and his wife came to me and spoke about it, it turns out to be a location that some of the hotel developers that we were talking to might show some interest in. The lot is large enough to actually probably put a couple of different buildings. You could use an acre and a half for parking and the other acre and a half for an 85-to-100-unit hotel.

“There could be some other retail, but that’s good commercial space. That’s going to have a lot of possibilities.”

Troup sees his role in a sale such as this as someone who simply helps parties meet.

“I know people who are interested, and I can make an introduction or set up a meeting to introduce,” he said. “If they want to continue the discussion separately, we clearly don’t need to be involved with that.”

Five brothers started garage in 1930 at corner of 24th and State

To get an idea of what the Turner Brothers property might be worth, a 1.0572-acre parcel at 4805 Broadway — the parcel on the east side of 48th Street across from Turner Brothers — was purchased by the Marissa Diane Messer Family Trust from Huntington Beach, Calif., for $1.65 million in 2016. A McDonald’s Restaurant now sits on that property.

White Goose Inc. bought that property from a trust for $312,500 in 2011, then sold it to Quincy Retail Associates, LLC, for $955,500 in 2014.

Turner Brothers Garage started in 1930 at 518 S. 24th. David and Anna Turner of Owensboro, Ky., had eight children, and their five boys — Herbert, Herman, Herschel, Luther and Ralph — created the business that comprised the garage, a filling station and a parts store.

A fire destroyed the original building on Dec. 23, 1961. Harold and Herschel Turner rebuilt the garage at the original location by the end of February 1962.

“It’s time to let it go,” Turner said. “I’ve got a lot of pictures at home and stuff like that. Thank goodness we’ve taken down things over the years. If you do this as long as I’ve done it, and you know you’ve been successful through the whole thing, well, it’s time to close on a good note.”