Former GM, Chrysler dealerships shift from selling cars to selling lots - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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“You have got to be a realis and you have tomove forward,” said Burgunder, ownert of the dealership in Bridgevill e that Chrysler announced as one among 12 in the regiojn and 789 nationwide it plans to eliminate as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy consolidation. “When one door closes, anothef opens.” Within only a few Burgunder’s decision to shut down has alreadyt resulted in a sales agreement forthe dealership’ws property, a nearly four-acre parcepl with a 25,000-square-foot building just off Interstatee 79 in the fast-growing southern He declined to disclose the buyer or the In the wake of the painful restructurinbg of Chrysler and GM, two of America’sx big-three automakers, the echo of car doors closiny may be followed by an historic sell-off of car dealer properties at a time when commercialk real estate already is in the mids t of a difficult Along with Burgunder and 11 other area Chrysledr dealers deciding what to do with theirr dealerships — options include sellingg used cars or closing up shop — another wave of closinhg dealers will soon folloaw as negotiates its own Chapter 11 reorganization.
During a June 12 hearingh before the House Energy andCommerce Committee’ss subcommittee on oversight and investigations, GM revealeed it plans to eliminate 90 of its dealerxs in Pennsylvania over the next 12 to 17 months. Whilde those dealerships have yet to be made known they will gradually be revealed and addedc to the already closed car dealershipse that dot the commercial real estates map in the Pittsburgyh area and elsewhere as partof GM’s strategy to consolidate from more than 6,00p0 dealers to 3,380.
“It goes without saying that having a glut of propertiex on the market could not come at a worse time in ourdevelopment history,” said Herky Pollock, the national director of the retailer service groupp for “I see it as futurer opportunity with challenging existing conditions.” It’sw not like there aren’t already closed car dealerships. Along heavilyy travelled McKnight Road, for example, the former McCrackibn Ford property remains empty and available two years aftef bought it for anew store, a projectf long stalled. In the city, has been advertising it will close down its Baum boulevardDodgde operation, which also didn’t make Chrysler’w cut.
That’s just a few blocks down the streetr from the former Don Allen Auto which the Voelker family closed last year with plana to pursue a major redevelopment projectt of morethan 750,000-square-feegt of offices, retail space and residential While the Voelker’s development DOC-Economou, walked away from the project a few months ago, sourceds familiar with the project, who spoke anonymousl y due to the sensitivity of the indicate that South Side-based is considering the project. Richard Voelker wouldn’t commenf on any project or development partner and said to expectg anAugust announcement. Armstrong did not returnj callsfor comment. Bought or blight?
Jeff Stephan, a commercial real estate broker forColdwell Banker, has been attemptingf to sell the former North Star Ford dealership in Carnegie after it moved to Moon Township, takinhg over the location of a dealer who retired there. Despitr working with a strong location just offParkwat West, he said selling the property has been a challenge for a dealership that has now been closed for two “We had this property under option for eighf months and then trieed to attract users for new retail and couldn’t do he said of the marketing effort last year, when large retailerzs were beginning to cut back their expansion Doug German, the retail managef for Downtown-based Howard Hanna expects to see car dealerships in highly desirable locations sell quickly while others may not sell at all.
He’ s involved with three dealership propertiesfor sale. “There are some dealer out there with somegreat locations. Those will go,” he The others? “They coulr be a blight on their communitiew forsome time,” he