Joe Schulke and Vic Lombardi are at it again.
The partners, an engineer and a builder, just announced their fourth luxury garage project, which will bring to market 78 more concrete and steel units priced from $249,900 to $389,900.
The stylish, hurricane-rated garages, which can be made into luxe man caves or she sheds, with mezzanine levels, hardwood floors, bars and big screen TVs, range in size from 920 square feet to 1,530 square feet for standard units, with even larger sizes available if a buyer needs more space.
“We have done a lot of preliminary engineering for a 60-foot by 72-foot unit that will be over 4,000 square feet,” says Lombardi, owner of Waters Edge Estates construction company, who has built many of the most impressive oceanfront homes on the island.
“We are also looking at making an entire 60-foot by 144-foot building a single unit, all clear span, with no columns, if the right buyer comes along.”
Located on an 8-acre lot behind Chill & Grill at 7420 U.S. 1, the new project, called Motorhaus 3.0, will include nine architect-designed, Bauhaus-style buildings on a secure, gated campus.
The bunker-like, tilt-wall construction buildings have 12-foot by 14-foot or 14-foot by 14-foot storm-resistant automatic garage doors and 20-foot-plus ceilings that provide space for optional car lifts and mezzanine levels to maximize space and functionality.
The garages are intended primarily as secure storage areas for island residents with classic car collections, Class-A motorhomes, large boats and other valuable possessions owners don’t want to leave out in the weather.
But they are ready to be upgraded to serve as hangout spots as well, where island car collectors or RV owners can spend time with friends or family turning wrenches or watching big games, while enjoying the sight of their corvettes, Grady Whites or multimillion-dollar motor homes.
“We had about 15 guys at our prior project, Motorhaus 2.0, who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars decking their units out into deluxe man caves with mezzanines, bars and kitchenettes,” Lombardi told Vero Beach 32963.
The units come pre-plumbed for bathrooms with showers and pre-ducted for air conditioning.
Electrical panels are suitable for plugging in large RVs.
With 7-inch-thick concrete walls, metal roofs and back-up generators available, the garages are also designed to serve as comfortable, secure hurricane shelters – for owners as well as their possessions.
The latest Motorhaus location is just 1.2 miles south of the Wabasso Causeway, a location the partners picked to attract customers from north island communities. “The Wabasso bridge serves Windsor, Orchid and John’s Island,” said Schulke, a partner at Schulke, Bittle & Stoddard, who describes himself as “a hands-on car guy.”
“At 2.0, we had a number of customers who told us that they wished the project was closer to their north island homes. They said if we built one close to the Wabasso bridge, they would sell their 2.0 unit and buy a unit in the new development.
“We just opened for sales last week and we have already gotten some calls from repeat customers who want to move. Some of them have friends they are introducing to us and the project who also are potential buyers.”
Schulke and Lombardi’s first luxury garage project was Autohaus, a 37-unit development on 12th St. near the 17th St. bridge, which they built with several other partners and completed in 2019.
Next came Motorhaus, a 17-unit project located between the railroad tracks and U.S. 1, a block north of 41st Street, which sold out before the foundation was poured and was finished in 2021.
Motorhaus 2.0, on 41st Street a block west of U.S 1, was a two-and-half-year, approximately $25-million project with 92 units that sold out in April 2024.
By the time it wrapped up, the partners were already thinking of their next project.
“We let the dust settle a little bit after we closed out 2.0 and then started looking for another piece of land that fit our search criteria,” Schulke said.
The partners needed a property large enough for a substantial project, that was close to the Wabasso bridge, zoned correctly and available for a price that made sense for their business model.
It wasn’t easy to find.
“A lot of the parcels along U.S. 1 are small – 1 to 3 acres – or much bigger than we needed,” Schulke said. “Much of the land is zoned light commercial, and we needed heavy commercial for our project.
“We were calling real estate brokers and owners when we saw for-sale signs and ended up looking at three or four parcels, but none of them quite fit. There were price issues or zoning issues or other drawbacks.
“We found one property that looked good on paper until we realized there was no water or sewer.
We passed on that because it would have cost $500,000 extra to bring in the utilities.
“We kind of stumbled across the site we bought. We had passed it a couple of times without thinking too much about it, because it was zoned light commercial. But it was adjacent to heavy commercial properties and after we gave it some thought, we decided the county would probably allow rezoning for that reason.”
The partners put the triangular parcel under contract in September and got the rezoning approved in January.
The property, which had belonged to the Llonch family for decades, was brokered by Billy Moss at Lambert Commercial Real Estate, who represented both seller and buyer.
“It is a great location for the project, with easy access from the north island, and their earlier efforts have proven the appeal of the concept,” Moss said. “Add in an excellent development team and it seems like a real winner. Joe and Vic are awesome people who know how to get things done, very professional and always a pleasure to work with.”
Sitework is slated to start in June, with the first completed units delivered 12 months later, in June 2026, according to Lombardi.
“We really refined the construction process at 2.0 and we have a proven team of subcontractors who have worked on all our earlier projects who do a fantastic job,” Lombardi said. “There is no one that we have even contemplated replacing. They all know exactly what they are doing and they work together beautifully.”
Schulke said the buildings at 3.0 will be nearly identical to those at 2.0, with a similar site layout, but there will be two significant differences between the projects.
“One thing we learned at 2.0 is that the biggest units sell first and fastest, so we included more of the largest 60-foot by 24-foot garages in 3.0,” he said.
“And we are building a conservation area as part of 3.0 that is a new feature. There will be a pond, wetlands and upland forest. We are going out of our way to preserve oak trees and palm trees, moving approximately 400 palms to preserve them.”
Anyone interested in buying a luxury garage at Motorhaus 3.0 can go to indianrivermotorhaus.com to reserve a unit or get Schulke’s phone number.