The Auto Country Club

“Ed” L. Bongart

I grew up in Miami and moved to Sarasota, FL at 18 to attend The University of South Florida and Take a job remodeling houses on Longboat Key for Paul Costello who was a Secret Service Agent That owned a number of houses with his wife Helen.
After graduating from USF with a Degree in Business I went to work for Metropolitan Life. I spent four years there before opening an Independent Insurance Agency which I sold six years
Later to concentrate on a new business I had started in a new industry called “Employee Leasing” which is now referred to as a PEO or Professional Employer Organization. I grew the
Company from zero leased employees to over 15,000 before selling it to Selective Insurance
Company (SIGI) of New Jersey in 1999 and retiring at 44. I travel around the world with my wife Jackie for four years then bored with retirement I went back to work developing properties, building houses and a Self Storage facility where I was introduced to the Auto Country Club
Concept in 2006. As I began researching the idea and making plans to build a facility in Sarasota
Florida the economy began showing signs of weakness so I thought it best to put the idea on the shelf. As we all know, the economy got worst-much worse than anyone thought it would.
With the development business on ice my wife suggested we move to a place that has more
Than one season a year. We started looking and visited a number of cities in The South but for
Various reasons we both could not agree on any so we decided to stay in Sarasota.
A few months after we stopped looking we received a phone call from a couple that were our
Neighbors in Sarasota before moving to The Myers Park area Charlotte in 2008. The rest of the story is very similar to Angie Harmon’s.
After spending a weekend with them in Charlotte we fell in love with the Charlotte Community
And made a number of trips back to Charlotte before moving here six months after our first
Visit. We found a beautiful 1960 Ranch Style home in Myers Park that I plan to remodel when
I find the time.
Last year, despite the fact that people told me I was crazy, I formed Charlor LLC (Char for Charlotte and Lor for my middle name Lorne) to start building custom spec houses in Myers Park. Only four homes were planed and all are under contract and will be finished in 2012.
Last summer while I clearing land to build the houses I received a call from a friend in Sarasota
Who told me he just saw a video about a guy in Minneapolis, MN that had build a very successful Auto Country Club facility. After reviewing the video produced by a television
Station in Minneapolis I knew I had to go see the place. The following week I was on a plane with my friend and partner in The Auto Country Club, Paul Lange to visit the Auto Motor Plax
www.automotorplex.com Paul has been my “gear head” mentor since I arrived in Charlotte
And met Paul and his wife. When I arrived I could not spell NASCAR and now I speak it!
After visiting the Auto Motor Plex I knew I had to build The Auto Country Club in Charlotte.
I also realized that coming to Charlotte might not be the accidental event that I had thought!
The next week Paul and I were looking for land to build The Auto Country Club, after deciding that in or near Huntersville would be the best location. Then we had spent months visiting and walking every possible location in the area we had circled on a map. None of the locations was exactly what we were looking for and we about to start looking ion a different area when we heard about place on Sam Furr Road just two miles east of I77 that was not on the market but the owner might want to sell. The beautiful 27 acre site was exactly what we were looking
To find . It was spacious, heavily treed for privacy and security but also within 30 minutes of 75 percent of most Charlotte area communities. We had an agreement with the owner within days.
Finally I had found what I had always dreamed about as a developer-(1) something to build thatI would really enjoy building and being a member of for years after the buildings were finished and (2) very profitable. I always enjoyed my working experiences but now I love it! And I don’t even mind the “NASCAR driving experience” I get daily driving back and forth from Myers Park to Hunterville on I77.