Les Schwab Tire Center: Carver, Minnesota
For a city whose roots can be traced, in part, to its role as a transportation route, the new Les Schwab Tire Center is a fitting addition to Carver’s long tradition of keeping goods and people moving.
Cushing Terrell provided full-service design for the new Les Schwab store, supporting the company’s continued expansion into the Minnesota market. The 13,231 sq. ft. facility features multiple enclosed service bays designed to accommodate passenger vehicles, commercial trucks, and RVs, as well as a comfortable waiting area with views to the service area.
The design responds to the context of the Carver community. City requirements mandated enhancements beyond the prototype, resulting in elevated exterior finishes, including concrete masonry units and Hardie Plank cementitious siding. These material choices tie the building’s appearance to the adjacent residential neighborhood, making it feel part of the community.
One of the project’s most distinctive features is the enclosed rear truck canopy, one of only a handful of Les Schwab locations nationwide with that configuration. The canopy shields large-vehicle service operations from Minnesota winters while keeping the site compatible with its neighbors.
Getting to the finished product wasn’t straightforward. The team navigated off-site utility work, real-time field adjustments, and a site boundary shared with public infrastructure being designed and built simultaneously by a separate municipal engineer. Resolving grade transitions required close coordination across jurisdictions, disciplines, and construction phases. Cushing Terrell’s civil team worked directly with the city and the public infrastructure engineer from early design through construction, producing a site that reads as a unified whole.