The large, two-story brick building and its massive parking lot were built to be the home of U.S. presidents, a place where tourists and locals alike could wander through a maze of 20-foot busts of chief executives.
Lagging ticket sales and a sluggish economy proved too much for Presidents Park to handle. The park, tucked against the onramp from Route 199 West to Interstate 64 West by Water Country USA, shut down in 2010 and sat undisturbed until the hulking stone presidents were trucked off early last year. Now it hardly resembles its former self: Enterprise Holdings, the company that operates Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent a Car, purchased the site in July 2013 with a much different usage in mind.
The long paths weaving between 20-foot busts of the first 43 presidents having given way to neat rows of sleek rental cars and fresh landscaping. Enterprise Holdings began operating at the site and at a nearby site in Busch Industrial Park in December.
In order to get the site ready for use, crews had to gut the interior of the brick building, which was previously used by Presidents Park as a museum. The parking lot and grounds outside were cleared and upgraded for the new occupants, said Enterprise Holdings Spokesperson Ned Maniscalco. The former Presidents Park building is now used for the company’s vehicle remarketing and training divisions.
In Busch Industrial Park, Enterprise Holdings has a pair of buildings featuring the company’s administration, human resources and accounting divisions for the state of Virginia. The two locations — both in York County — are now the home of 90 Enterprise employees who formerly worked in Newport News.
In addition to the relocated jobs, the company plans on building a vehicle service facility at the rear of the Presidents Park property. The facility will be used to recondition vehicles from the rental fleet before they are sold at retail car sales lots throughout Virginia, Maniscalco said. He said the vehicle service facility will create a few more jobs.
Maniscalco said the new locations offer the company increased parking, making it more convenient for the employees who work and train there. In addition, its proximity to I-64 is a plus. Enterprise first entered the Virginia market in 1987 and today employs more than 1,400 people in the state.
The moves by Enterprise Holdings fill two longtime vacancies in Upper York County. The Busch Industrial Park location was vacant for at least two years prior to Enterprise Holdings purchasing the 12,800 square-foot building with its 3.5-acre property and an adjacent 3.1-acre lot.
York County Director of Economic Development Jim Noel said he is “thrilled” with the addition of Enterprise Holdings to the county.
“It brings good paying jobs,” Noel said. “That’s the kind of employment that we’re trying to bring to the county — professional, white-collar, good salary. It’s a good thing for us.”
He said the addition of Enterprise Holdings is beneficial to the surrounding area in several ways. People using the training center at the Presidents Park site will patronize nearby hotels and restaurants. A vacant site on the other side of Water Country Parkway is more marketable as there is now a landscaped property with an active tenant in place.
The Presidents Park site was the home of a sprawling park featuring 20-foot busts of every American president besides Barack Obama — by the time he was elected, the park could not afford a bust of him — up until it closed in 2010 after being plagued by years of financial problems.
Croaker resident Howard Hankins took custody of all 43 busts in January 2013. A crew of workers from his company, Newport News-based HB Hankins, spent a week hauling the busts from Presidents Park to his farm, where they remain today.
“I’m trying to work on a place to put them,” Hankins said. “They’re still on the farm. They’re fine. When I’m ready, I’ll blast them off and patch them up and set them and repaint them.”
He said he has received many calls about the busts, including one from a couple who wanted to hold their wedding in front of the bust of Abraham Lincoln.
In the last year, the area in and around Busch Industrial Park has been the setting of much of the new business development in Upper York County. Magnolia Cleaning Services, a company which provides laundry services for time shares and some hotels in the Historic Triangle, recently moved to a new 22,000 square foot building in the park with an eye on expanding operations. Magnolia expects to add about 20 new jobs in the next few years.
More than 200,000 square feet of commercial space and 650 residential units were approved in November at the Marquis at Williamsburg, less than a mile from Busch Industrial Park. Five big-box retailers already exist at the site — Best Buy, Kohl’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, JCPenney and Target — all of which have recently signed long-term leases to remain at the Marquis. They will be joined by several new buildings, including a national club discount retailer, several restaurants and a combination of single-family homes, townhouses and apartments.
Related Coverage:
