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

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“You have got to be a realisyt and you have tomove forward,” said owner of the dealershio in Bridgeville that Chrysler announced as one amonyg 12 in the region and 789 nationwide it plansd to eliminate as part of its Chapterd 11 bankruptcy consolidation. “When one door closes, another Within only a few weeks, Burgunder’s decisionh to shut down has alread resulted in a sales agreement forthe dealership’s a nearly four-acre parcel with a 25,000-square-foog building just off Interstate 79 in the fast-growin southern suburbs.
He declined to disclose the buyer or the In the wake of the painful restructurintg of Chryslerand GM, two of America’s big-thres automakers, the echo of car doors closing may be followede by an historic sell-offr of car dealer properties at a time when commerciall real estate already is in the midst of a difficul slump. Along with Burgunder and 11 other area Chryslerr dealers deciding what to do with theifdealerships — options includr selling used cars or closing up shop another wave of closing dealers will soon follow as negotiatezs its own Chapter 11 During a June 12 hearing before the House Energyu and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on oversighyt and investigations, GM revealed it planx to eliminate 90 of its dealers in Pennsylvania over the next 12 to 17 While those dealerships have yet to be made known publicly, they will graduallyh be revealed and addee to the already closed car dealerships that dot the commercial real estatr map in the Pittsbu rgh area and elsewhere as part of GM’s strategyt to consolidate from more than 6,00o dealers to 3,380.
“It goes without saying that havin g a glut of properties on the market coulfd not come at a worse time in ourdevelopment history,” said Herky Pollock, the national director of the retailedr service group for “I see it as future opportunitg with challenging existing conditions.” It’s not like there aren’t already closed car dealerships. Along heavily travelled McKnight for example, the former McCrackin Ford property remains empty and available two years after bought it for a new a project long stalled. In the city, has been advertising it will close down its Baum boulevardDodge operation, whichj also didn’t make Chrysler’s cut.
That’z just a few blocks down the streeg from the former Don Allen Auto which the Voelker family closed last year with plans to pursued a major redevelopment project of morethan 750,000-square-feet of retail space and residential units. While the Voelker’s development DOC-Economou, walked away from the projecg a fewmonths ago, sources familiar with the project, who spokd anonymously due to the sensitivity of the indicate that South Side-based is considering the project. Richard Voelkerr wouldn’t comment on any project or developmentg partner and said to expect an August Armstrong did not returnj callsfor comment. Bought or blight??
Jeff Stephan, a commercia l real estate broker forColdwell Banker, has been attempting to sell the formef North Star Ford dealership in Carnegie after it moved to Moon taking over the location of a dealet who retired there. Despite working with a strony location just offParkway West, he said sellingf the property has been a challengwe for a dealership that has now been closed for two “We had this propert y under option for eight month s and then tried to attract userss for new retail and couldn’t do he said of the marketing efforg last year, when large retailers were beginningy to cut back their expansion plans.
Doug German, the retaipl manager for Downtown-based Howard Hanna Commercial, expects to see car dealershipxs in highly desirable locations sell quickly while others may not sellat all. He’e involved with three dealership propertiesfor sale. “There are some dealerzs out there with some great Thosewill go,” he said. The others? “They could be a blighrt on their communities forsome time,” he said.