Local business renting unique vehicles to open soon on Main Street

A local business offering day rentals of electric bikes and three-wheel roadsters opens on June 6 at 508 S Main St., Hendersonville.

In addition to vehicle rentals, Blue Ridge Rentals will house the new Pisgah Coffee and Smoothie shop and provide a permanent location for The Taste Buds food truck. Blue Ridge Rentals joins The Taste Buds and The View Restaurant at Echo Mountain Inn as the newest venture from the Blue Ridge Hospitality Group.

"I could open another restaurant, but there are so many restaurants in the area. So we were trying to think of something not in our area yet that we can offer that is different," said Tom Makowski, founder and CEO of Blue Ridge Hospitality Group.

The business will offer two 2021 Polaris Slingshot Rs and one 2022 Vanderhall Venice GT for a rental period of eight hours, 24 hours or three days. A motorcycle license is not required to drive any of the vehicles, and insurance is provided.

Makowski said the Vanderhall is a rarity as only 10,000 are made a year, and they have only been made since 2018.

"We are the only Vanderhall within, I think, 120 miles from us," Makowski said. "Unless somebody has one at their house that I just don't know about, but that's what I was told by Vanderhall."

Lectric XP 2.0 electric bikes will also be offered on the same rental period. These bikes were included, according to Makowski, because of the future Ecusta Trail running from Hendersonville to Brevard.

After meeting a friend in Waynesville and renting Slingshots to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway, Makowski said he wished something similar existed in Hendersonville. He partnered with Drew Greenblatt, corporate executive chef at the Blue Ridge Hospitality Group, to start the business.

"I said, 'Man, that's a little crazy.' But then he showed me the Slingshot, and I was like, 'That is awesome,'" Greenblatt said.

After looking around and seeing that no businesses offered anything like what Makowski was proposing, Greenblatt said he was fully on board.

"I definitely think we do need something a little more adventurous besides the hiking and the trails," he said. "Being able to pick one of these up and hit Blue Ridge Parkway. Have the open air, smell the fall when that starts coming and see the color change without having to roll down a window."

The rental business was originally going to be run out of The View Restaurant, Makowski said, but they had a chance encounter that lead to the current planned location.

"We found this building on Main Street and... the guy was putting up the sign," he said. "As soon as he was putting the sign up, I came there and told him I would buy it."

Around 30,000 cars pass by the future location every day, according to Makowski.

After he realized a small office space in the new building would be perfect for a coffee shop, he said he reached out to his good friends who own Pisgah Coffee Roasters with the idea.

"I was like, 'Hey, I got this spot on Main Street. Would you want to come and open a coffee shop? We'll do a small concept. My team will manage it, and we'll be a partnership,'" he said. "And they're like, 'Yeah, let's do it.'"

Makowski believes the business will be well received by locals and tourists alike, due to the name recognition of the locally-owned Pisgah Coffee and the quality of their products.

"I know we have some competition on Main Street but that's okay. We're just there to serve good food and have fun," he said.

For the grand opening, Makowski said they are planning to have live music, bike demos, a professional photo-shoot of people sitting in the Slingshots and food from The Taste Buds. For the first few months, he said all first responders will also get a free cup of coffee.

"That's something close to my heart. My brother's in the state police in Pennsylvania," he said. "They do a lot for our community, so it's time we do something back for them. And coffee's always a good one because they're up and running around all day."

For more information or to rent a vehicle, visit https://www.blueridgerentals.net/.

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Hendersonville business renting unique vehicles to open on Main Street