Launching Pad, Wilmington's Famous Route 66 Restaurant, Now For Sale

WILMINGTON, IL — One of America's Historic Route 66 treasures, Wilmington's Launching Pad restaurant featuring the famous Gemini Giant statue, just became for sale this week. The real estate listing is now featured on the commercial real estate website Crexi.

"Welcome to the iconic Launching Pad Drive-In Restaurant, Home to the Gemini Giant on Route 66 in Wilmington," the real estate listing proclaims. "One of the 'Top 100 Essential Stops on Route 66' it's quite the tourist spot for hundreds of people a week, who stop by to take photos and tour the property. No marketing needed here for your business."

Kim Wirtz of the Century 21 Cycle out of Oak Lawn is the real estate agent for the Wilmington property. The address for The Launching Paid is 810 E Baltimore St. It's right along the main entrance into Wilmington, coming from Joliet on Route 53.

The asking price for The Launching Pad is $1.4 million.

In 2019, Joliet Patch produced an in-depth feature story about The Launching Pad, which had fallen into disrepair over the previous several years. In 2017, Holly Barker and Tully Garrett came along. She was a widow, and he was a widower. They fell in love with the iconic landmark along historic Route 66, despite it falling on hard times.

The pair bought the property in October 2017 and proceeded to devote thousands of hours into rehabilitating The Launching Pad during these past couple years.

"It looked like a Jurassic Park scene. It was shuttered. It was bad. The place was closed and totally in disrepair," Barker said during the 2019 Joliet Patch story. "It took us about 16 months to get it back to the right look and feel.

"It's back to life and it's in our family and it's going to stay here," Barker vowed.

The restaurant has been a Wilmington fixture since 1956. The Gemini Giant came along in 1965.

"They're called muffler men," Barker explained. "It was part of the space race between the Americans and the Russians. It is one of the most photographed destinations on Route 66."

According to this week's real estate listing posted on Crexi:

The Wilmington property sale includes the recently renovated turn-key 2,600-square-foot brick restaurant building with drive-thru and "THE WORLD FAMOUS GEMINI GIANT STATUE," parking for at least 34 cars, seating in the restaurant for 48 people, a large storage shed, transfer of the business website and all social media sites, plus all business equipment and fixtures. There has been more than $450,000 in recent remodeling to the property, according to the listing.

In September 2022, the owners of The Launching Pad shared a long public announcement on their Facebook page surrounding the closing of The Launching Pad.

"We are not going to walk away and let it crash and burn. I assure you that you can be certain that Launching Pad is not going anywhere nor is The Gemini Giant," co-owner Tully Garrett posted on The Launching Pad Facebook page — 15 months ago.