Autos Outside the Box

	A Glamorous Garage

The two-car garage: today, that concept sounds quaintly vintage, like iceboxes and sliced bread.

The second car can hardly be considered a luxury anymore.

So as the auto count goes up, the question presents itself: Do you begin looking for more car space or cars that take up less?

Hailing from Arizona's real estate industry, two entrepreneurs I met at the Men's Luxury Toy Expo in Glendale, Ariz., are turning profits from two very different answers.

Cars Living Large

Car enthusiasts turn to the car Mecca of the Phoenix/Scottsdale area to escape the saltwater menace of coastal states.

Here, houses are often selected based on car needs, which often left realtor Denise Ham hunting down properties with five-car garages. While she specializes in finding homes for cars, Ham's prowess is challenged by the growing three-, four- or even five-car standard.

She is even thinking of enlarging her own garage to accommodate her collection, which includes a 1995 Corvette. "I am a car person and ... when [someone wants] a 12-foot ceiling in the garage I know why," says Ham.

If you don't happen to find a house with an accommodating show room, many Arizona properties won't allow you to add on, in which case your other option is to rent space in a commercial building -- often without the climate control option.

When a developer presented the idea of luxury car condos to Ham, she paid attention and soon found herself selling the Goodwood Motoring Club's condo concept to potential buyers in Arizona.

Ham has picked up local prospects from the annual Barret-Jackson car auction and even people from the Midwest and Northwest who have second homes in the area. "I just got an email yesterday from a gentleman in Daytona, Fla.," she says.

Goodwood takes the condo concept quite literally. While owners can't sleep alongside their favorite toys, they are provided with a showroom where they can hang out with their cars and friends while catching the game and chilling wine in the fridge.

Each condo provides a safe environment with climate control, security cameras and lights, all of which owners can adjust from their home computers.

Instead of the standard commercial box, these condos are designed with an old-world charm and all the bells and whistles of modernity.

Each of the 15 units comes with a full bathroom including a granite vanity, a full entertainment center, its own air compressor, indirect lighting for artwork, covered patio and open-truss, 12-foot ceilings. Seven of the units will have an additional entertainment center and bathroom.

The condos are perched around a cobblestone courtyard with central fountain; a washing bay resides just outside.

The smallest (2,431 square feet) condos start at $600,000, and the most elaborate will go for over $1.3 million. Ham plans to release full pricing by the end of March.

The Smart Cart

"I'm in the right place at the right time with the right car and the right solution," says entrepreneur George Bridges, standing in front of his display at the Men's Luxury Toy Expo, which resembled one of the luxury car lots that dotted the nearby Phoenix roadways.

The vehicles looked like limos, Hummers and Escalades minus their two trademarks: size, and a steaming exhaust pipe.

After a raging real estate success with his company Arizona Dreams, Bridges tapped into something that involved both real estate and auto trends.