Enterprise Rent-A-Car – South Bend, Indiana

Enterprise Rent-A-Car  (website)
52200 Indiana State Route 933
South Bend, IN

This site was formerly a Mexican restaurant and an ice cream parlor in its last incarnation.  It had the arched brick windows and door openings from its origin as a Mexican restaurant.  It had a walk in cooler and the restaurant paraphernalia was still there.  The two existing bathrooms were too small to meet ADA standards.  There was no garage.  The roof was in poor condition.

To make the building fit Enterprise’s corporate look, the arched brick window openings were cut out and reframed as square windows with new aluminum frames and insulated glass.  The interior door openings were changed to standard rectangular door openings.  The two bathrooms were removed and replaced by a single unisex bathroom that met ADA standards.  The drive-up window was removed.  When the existing low ceiling was removed, we discovered that there was no insulation in the ceiling.  New insulation was installed.  New acoustical ceiling tile were installed along with new carpet, ceramic tile, lighting and wiring for electricity, computers and phones.

The building owner constructed a new garage while we were completing our renovations.  Delays were incurred when it was discovered that this addition, as well as previous renovations, had not been done under proper permits or per code.  This cast doubt on our work, but we were able to differentiate ourselves and develop a rapport with the inspectors.  Roger Thews was our site superintendent on this project and was instrumental in helping us maintain this good working relationship.