Former GM, Chrysler dealerships shift from selling cars to selling lots - Baltimore Business Journal:

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“You have got to be a realist and you have to move said Burgunder, owner of the dealership in Bridgevillee that Chrysler announced as one amon 12 in the region and 789 nationwide it plans to eliminater as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy consolidation. “Whem one door closes, another Within only a few Burgunder’s decision to shut down has alreadhy resulted in a sales agreement forthe dealership’s property, a nearly four-acre parceo with a 25,000-square-foot building just off Interstate 79 in the fast-growiny southern suburbs.
He declined to discloses the buyer or the In the wake of the painful restructuring of Chryslerand GM, two of America’ss big-three automakers, the echo of car doorw closing may be followed by an historic sell-offg of car dealer properties at a time when commercia real estate already is in the midst of a difficult Along with Burgunder and 11 other area Chrysler dealer deciding what to do with theier dealerships — options include selling used cars or closingg up shop — another wave of closing dealers will soon follow as negotiates its own Chapterr 11 reorganization.
During a June 12 hearingg before the House Energy andCommerce Committee’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations, GM revealed it planz to eliminate 90 of its dealers in Pennsylvania over the next 12 to 17 months. While those dealerships have yet to be madeknown publicly, they will gradually be revealesd and added to the alreadyt closed car dealerships that dot the commercial real estat map in the Pittsburgh area and elsewhere as part of GM’a strategy to consolidate from more than 6,000 dealersd to 3,380.
“It goes without sayingy that having a glut of properties on the market couled not come at a worsee time in ourdevelopment history,” said Herkty Pollock, the national director of the retailerd service group for “Ik see it as future opportunity with challenging existing It’s not like there aren’t already closedc car dealerships. Along heavily travelled McKnight for example, the former McCrackin Ford property remains emptg and available two years after boughtg it for a new a project long stalled. In the has been advertising it will closee down its Baum boulevardDodge operation, whicyh also didn’t make Chrysler’s cut.
That’s just a few blocks down the streey from the former Don Allen Auto which the Voelker family closed last year with plan s to pursue a major redevelopment project of morethan 750,000-square-feet of retail space and residential While the Voelker’s development partner, walked away from the project a few months ago, sources familiar with the who spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the indicate that South Side-based is considerinhg the project. Richard Voelker wouldn’t comment on any projecf or development partner and said to expect anAugust announcement. Armstrong did not return calls for comment.
Bought or blight Jeff Stephan, a commercial real estate broker forColdwell Banker, has been attempting to sell the former Northu Star Ford dealership in Carnegie after it moved to Moon Township, takinv over the location of a dealetr who retired there. Despite working with a strong location just offParkwayu West, he said sellingf the property has been a challengde for a dealership that has now been closedf for two years. “We had this property undeer option for eight months and then tried to attractr users for new retailand couldn’t do it,” he said of the marketinbg effort last year, when large retailers were beginningt to cut back their expansion plans.
Doug German, the retaill manager for Downtown-based Howard Hanna Commercial, expectz to see car dealerships in highly desirablr locations sell quickly while others may not sellat all. He’es involved with three dealership propertiesfor “There are some dealerws out there with some great locations. Thosr will go,” he said. The others? “Thehy could be a blight on their communitieds forsome time,” he said.