5 Auto Service and Tire Chains That Typically Ground-Lease Their Locations

Landowners and investors who control high-visibility commercial parcels often hear the same question from brokers: will an auto-service or tire tenant take a ground lease? For several national and regional chains, the answer is frequently yes. These operators need freestanding sites with bay access, stacking room, and strong arterial frontage. A ground lease lets them control the improvements while the landowner keeps the dirt and a long-term income stream.

Below are five brands that commonly use absolute net or ground-lease structures for new or replacement locations. Each section cites public listing, broker, or company reporting. New England examples appear where they could be verified.

Firestone Complete Auto Care (Bridgestone Retail Operations)

Firestone Complete Auto Care is the retail service brand operated by Bridgestone Retail Operations. Its stores combine tire sales with general automotive service and are typically freestanding buildings on high-traffic corners or commercial corridors.

In the Greater Boston market, brokers have marketed a Firestone Complete Auto Care at School Street and Commercial Street in Mansfield, Massachusetts, as a corporate ground lease to Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC. Offering materials described a 20-year absolute NNN ground lease with seven five-year extension options and scheduled rent increases during the primary term and options. The Mansfield site sits near I-495 and I-95 and adjacent to Mansfield Crossing, illustrating the traffic and co-tenancy profile these stores seek.

For landowners, the practical takeaway is that Firestone/Bridgestone has used long-term absolute ground leases in New England, with corporate tenancy and multi-decade option packages. Site criteria generally emphasize signalized or high-volume access, visibility from major roads, and enough land for a multi-bay building and customer parking. When a parcel already has those attributes, a Firestone conversation is often about lease term, rent bumps, and who builds the store - not whether the brand will consider a ground lease at all.

Town Fair Tire (Mavis Tire)

Town Fair Tire is a long-established Northeast tire and auto-service brand. In recent years its New England locations have been tied into the larger Mavis Tire platform. Marcus & Millichap has marketed Town Fair Tire at 10 Silver Street in Greenfield, Massachusetts, as an absolute NNN investment guaranteed by Mavis Tire Express Services TopCo Corp., described as a national operator with more than 2,300 locations.

The Greenfield offering materials cited roughly 18.5 years remaining on the lease, five percent rent increases every five years, and six five-year renewal options. The site sits along the Federal Street/Silver Street corridor with proximity to Interstate 91. That structure - long remaining term, fixed escalations, and multiple options - is typical of what investors look for when an auto-service brand occupies freestanding land under a net lease.

Town Fair/Mavis locations are usually freestanding or highly visible service centers rather than inline shops. For a landowner evaluating a ground lease or sale-leaseback, the Greenfield example shows that New England tire operators can support corporate-guaranteed, multi-decade net structures when the trade area and access are strong.

Valvoline Instant Oil Change

Valvoline Instant Oil Change is a national quick-lube brand that frequently occupies small freestanding buildings on roughly half-acre to one-acre pads. Net-lease marketing materials and broker tenant profiles commonly describe new Valvoline locations as build-to-suit absolute NNN ground leases, often with a 15-year primary term, multiple five-year options, and rent increases around ten percent every five years. Typical prototypes are in the roughly 1,500-2,500 square foot range with multiple service bays.

New England has seen active Valvoline development interest. Local reporting has covered site-plan review for a Valvoline Instant Oil Change on Flagg Road in Southborough, Massachusetts, and industry coverage has noted Sudbury, Massachusetts, as a considered location. Those local processes matter for landowners: even when the national lease form is standardized, Massachusetts and Connecticut permitting for bay doors, stacking, and drainage still drives schedule and cost.

From a ground-lease perspective, Valvoline's model fits parcels that are too small for a full tire center but too valuable for an inline bay. Landowners with half-acre to one-acre corner or arterial pads often find that quick-lube brands can move faster than larger-format auto retailers once zoning and curb cuts are clear.

Take 5 Oil Change

Take 5 Oil Change is another national quick-lube concept that has expanded into the Northeast. Company location listings show Massachusetts stores in markets such as Leominster, Springfield, Tyngsborough, and Worcester, and Connecticut stores in Groton, Norwich, Stratford, and West Haven. Industry reporting has described Take 5's broader plan to expand in the Northeast and Midwest and to grow store count over several years. National Oil and Lube News covered a Connecticut grand opening in Norwich in September 2024.

On the investment side, broker offering memoranda for Take 5 sites outside New England routinely present absolute NNN ground leases with long primary terms and five-year options - similar economics to other drive-thru oil-change formats. Secure Net Lease and other NNN platforms have listed Take 5 ground-lease assets with 15-year terms, ten percent increases every five years, and multiple renewal options.

For New England landowners, Take 5 is relevant because it is already operating freestanding stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut and because its national lease practice favors ground leases on small pads. Competition with Valvoline and Jiffy Lube for the same half-acre sites is real; brokers typically underwrite traffic counts, signalized access, and mutual exclusivity with nearby quick-lube operators.

Jiffy Lube

Jiffy Lube remains one of the most familiar freestanding quick-lube brands in New England. Horvath & Tremblay reported the January 2025 sale of the Jiffy Lube at 283 South Willow Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, for $1,530,000. According to the firm, Jiffy Lube had occupied the freestanding building since its 2004 construction, recently extended the lease, and held more than nine years remaining on a triple-net lease with one five-year renewal option and ten percent rent increases every five years.

The Manchester store sits on NH Route 28, a primary commercial corridor in the city's south end, with interstate access to I-293 and I-93. That transaction is a building lease rather than a pure land-only ground lease, but it shows the same investment profile landowners care about: freestanding format, long remaining term, scheduled bumps, and a nationally known service brand.

Jiffy Lube's New England footprint is dense enough that many replacement or remodel deals happen on existing service sites. For landowners with vacant arterial land, the brand still belongs in the same conversation as Valvoline and Take 5 when the pad can support a multi-bay freestanding building and stacking lanes.

What landowners and brokers should watch

Auto-service and tire ground leases succeed when the site matches the operating model: enough land for bays and queuing, high daily traffic, and zoning that allows automotive use without prolonged special-permit fights. Absolute NNN or ground-lease structures shift taxes, insurance, and maintenance to the tenant, which is why investors and landowners both favor them when credit and term are strong.

New England adds frost-line construction costs, wetland and stormwater constraints, and tight pad inventory near grocery and big-box anchors. Brands that already operate in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine - and that have used long absolute leases in those states - are the ones most likely to underwrite a ground lease on a well-located parcel.

To see what freestanding and pad sites are available now, browse current NECPE listings. A NECPE member broker can help match an auto-service or tire tenant's site criteria to land that can support a ground lease.