A three-acre parcel that used to be home to the Prestige Auto Mall on Old Neighborhood Road in the Town of Ulster is now occupied by three brand-new, energy-efficient commercial buildings, designed and built by New Paltz-based developer and entrepreneur Bart Panessa, a/k/a Uncle B. Bordered to the north by the off-ramp from Route 209 onto 9W and to the south by the rear parking lots of Staples and Jo-Ann Fabrics, the parcel’s former buildings went up in a blaze of glory, used by town and county police SWAT teams and firefighters for drilling purposes.
You can’t miss the location if you’re driving past on busy Route 9W: There’s a big inflatable figure of an animal mascot in a baseball cap on the roadside, beckoning you to discover the wonders on offer at Uncle B’s. Already open is a state-of-the-art laundromat. A Grease Monkey oil-change franchise outlet, leased and operated by Muhammad Ali, is having its official grand opening this weekend. A car wash is under construction. A 30-unit apartment complex is planned for next year on the rear corner of the property. The roofs of all the buildings will be topped with solar arrays to generate electricity.
The former owner of the Diamond Car Wash, located on Route 299 near Thruway Exit 18, Panessa grew up in New Paltz and attended high school there. He has also spent some years in Florida. As a young man, “I was an ironworker for five years,” he says. “I worked on the Tampa Sky Bridge.”
Taking his construction experience to the next level, he opened his first car wash in 1996. “Loving cars and being very mechanical, I enjoy it, and I like to help. I like to interact with the public.”
Since selling the Diamond operation, Panessa’s primary business interest has been in manufacturing “nutraceuticals,” dietary supplements that “cater to the sports industry.” “When I was into working out, I wanted to come up with a good whey protein,” he says, “I stumbled across a small company in Fort Lauderdale that happened to be for sale, so I decided to dabble in it.” The company he acquired, Goliath Labs, now sells creatines, vitamins and whey products to bodybuilders in 20 countries, with a factory in Miami and its distribution hub in Kingston.
With his businesses thriving, Panessa wanted to “give back to the town,” and saw a need for additional rental housing in New Paltz, especially for older residents seeking to downsize. But his 2014 proposal to build a 60-unit senior housing complex on his family’s property, Ferris Woods, was rebuffed by the town planning board. “People just didn’t want it in the neighborhood. And then they rezoned. So I decided to take my business to the next town.”
Turning his attention to the more development-friendly Town of Ulster, Panessa closed on the Old Neighborhood Road property in February 2018. He let the first responders have their way with the buildings that needed demolition – “They had a blast,” he says – and set to work on the design. “I general-contract all my projects, from design to finish to operation.”
Excavation got under way in November 2018 on the complex drainage systems needed for the car wash and laundromat’s hydraulics before work on the massive steel superstructures could even begin. There were delays and challenges, of course, due to the pandemic. These included the statewide stop-work order on building sites last spring, supply-chain issues, and difficulties in hiring. But laundromats and auto repair were quickly categorized as essential businesses, and Panessa says that he only lost about a month of construction time.
The concrete-and-steel structures in the new Uncle B’s complex are fireproof and “super-energy-efficient,” EPA Energy Star-rated buildings, with insulation provided by eight-inch-thick foam panels. The 480-watt rooftop solar panels will produce 78 KW, more energy than the operation will need. Wash water in the car wash will be filtered five times and recycled, topped off with a freshwater rinse.
“With today’s technology, you can be environmentally friendly and give back in many different ways,” says Panessa.
Uncle B’s Laundromat, already open to the public, is a 4200-square-foot space with a high ceiling and a panoramic mural of the rocky shores of Lake George along the back wall. The floors are porcelain, the folding counters granite. There’s a large-screen wall-mounted TV, free Wi-Fi, ATM and vending machines.
The bench seating is minimal, deliberately designed not to be a place where customers will have to linger, waiting for their wash to be done. The washers and dryers all utilize smart-sensing technology. You can download a free app that will send a text to your phone when your laundry is done, so you can go shopping in the nearby malls instead of hanging out. If your dryer load needs more time, you can put another quarter in remotely.
There are 42 washing machines, ranging in capacity from two to ten laundry-basket loads, and in price from $3.75 to $15.75. The largest model can handle coats, blankets, comforters, even a tent. All have 200G extractor mechanisms (double the industry norm, according to Panessa), which means that the powerful spin cycle will shorten the drying time needed. The 46 super-efficient dryers in two sizes (30- and 45-pounds capacity) all cost 25 cents for 30 minutes. Dropoff service is also available, at $1.05 per pound of laundry, $15 minimum.
The car wash whose innards are currently being assembled is similarly high-tech. The 150-foot-long tunnel features chemical arches that can dispense “illuminated soaps that look like neon,” says Panessa. “It’s a show with a purpose.”
He demonstrates the adaptability of brushes on a swivel arm “designed to move like your wrist. It can accommodate any shape of vehicle.” Special low brushes clean tire rims twice, and super-high-pressure “Gatling guns” rinse under the wheel-wells. Squeegees and three banks of flash-dryers supply 250 horsepower of drying.
Depending on what bells and whistles you want, a wash will set you back $13 to $22, and monthly unlimited Wash Club memberships cost $31.99 to $45.99 per month, including vacuuming and mat cleaning. As of press time, Uncle B’s Car Wash was projected to open within two weeks.
A website for Uncle B’s is also still under construction, but you can find updates now at www.facebook.com/uncle-bs-laundromat-131477958317439. The business address is 404/406 Old Neighborhood Road, just opposite the northern terminus of John M. Clark Drive.
Join the family! 
