Friday, June 12, 2009
Dealers delay developments at 303 Autoshow at Prasada
Phoenix Business Journal – by Stephanie Riel
Media
Surprise’s 303 Autoshow at Prasada is looking quite bare these days.
The nearly 200-acre car dealership off Loop 303 and Waddell Road only has one operating sales site to date, and development plans have been postponed.
“In a tough market, the good news is we have a dealership that is open and operational and doing extremely well,” said Rick Breuer, senior vice president of SRS Real Estate Partners Automotive Practice Group, which is handling automotive site selection and land acquisition for dealers at the Autoshow.
Sands Surprise Chevrolet, which has been operating on a 13.7-acre site at the development since Dec. 22, is the lone occupant at 303 Autoshow at Prasada.
Sands is one of six dealers that own lots at Autoshow. About 85 of the project’s 181 acres have been sold.
“Development plans have been postponed both because of the current economic conditions and manufacturers,” Breuer said.
Although things have seemingly come to a halt, Breuer is confident that after the economy turns around more dealers will get buy in to occupy the remaining 97 acres.
In addition to Sand’s Chevrolet, a Scion dealership owned by Penske Auto Group, Coutler Nissan, Kia and Jim Click Ford dealerships own land at the Loop 303 Autoshow. Private investors originally had purchased land for a Pontiac GMC dealership and a Performance Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealership, but the status of those parcels is uncertain.
“When we bought the land in December 2007, we had said we would be out (in Surprise) within three years,” said Mills Brown, a partner with Coulter Nissan and with Main Spring Capital Group. “Now I think sometime in 2011 or 2012 would be more accurate.”
The Kia dealership, a Sands Automotive Team franchise, planned to open by the end of 2009, but now is looking to push that back tentatively to the end of 2010, said Jerry Moore, Sands Chevrolet dealer operator.
Steve Lyons, a dealer principal and partner with Jim Click for the Ford dealership at the Autoshow, said it is too soon to estimate an opening date.
“For us, this is maybe a delay,” Lyons said. “We never actually set a firm date for completion because the situation was too fluid.”
The 303 Autoshow clinched the United Auto Group dealerships in 2007 with a tax incentive plan that lets dealers keep 50 percent of the sales tax revenue they generate over the next 10 years.
“The city is waiting on the dealerships, and that is how it has been from the beginning,” said John Hagen, economic development director for Surprise. “The ball’s in their court.”
The incentive plan still is in place.
“We’re not out any money (with the incentive) because if they don’t relocate and make the taxes, then we don’t owe anything,” Hagen said. “It’s a performance-oriented incentive.”
Get Connected
303 Autoshow at Prasada: www.prasada.com
Sands Surprise: www.sandssurprise.com
SRS Real Estate Partners: www.staubachretail.com
Chrysler Closures
Dealerships planned for the 303 Autoshow at Prasada and their projected opening dates:
Penske Auto Group Toyota Scion: Uncertain
Coutler Nissan: 2011 at the earliest
Kia: Late 2010
Jim Click Ford: Uncertain
Pontiac GMC dealership: Uncertain
Performance Chrystler-Jeep-Dodge: Uncertain