Calgary's Auto Dealership Sites: Shto Dyelat?

[Beltliner]

This story out of The Detroit Free Press this morning ties in tangentially to the future of the Stampede Pontiac site across from the Armoury, and to other automotive dealership sites across the city that may open up as Chrysler and GM retrench over the next few months:

Closed dealerships likely to blight suburbs
Greg Gardner, The Detroit Free Press

Imagine Gratiot Avenue in Roseville or Grand River Avenue in Novi with every third dealership vacant.

No, we're not talking about some postapocalyptic fantasy. This could be the shape of suburbia 2012.

Shuttered showrooms could give way to skate parks, hockey rinks, another Wal-Mart or Costco. But don't get carried away. Underground gas tanks and other substances present an environmental headache for redevelopment.

Acres of concrete will discourage large community gardens from taking root.

"On the positive side, these parcels will be eligible for state and federal funds for cleanup," said Robin Boyle, head of Wayne State University's department of urban economic development. "The downside is: We will have a lot of it."

In the short term, idle dealerships will sit vacant, further depressing a metro Detroit commercial real estate market that has seen prices fall 50% from their peak, according to William Lichwalla, president and chief executive officer of Plante Moran CRESA, a Southfield real estate consultant.

Until consumer spending rebounds and stays strong, few dealerships will turn into big-box retail centers.

"A lot of them are going to sit for a long time," said Lichwalla. "And that means lost tax revenue."

Showrooms in inner suburban locations are better candidates for creative new uses because more people live nearby and traffic is heavier, said June Williamson, an architect and coauthor of "Retrofitting Suburbia."

The book highlights a former Cadillac dealership in Kendall, Fla., that was subdivided into seven smaller pieces for small shops and apartments.

"For an area like Detroit, there is also the opportunity to retrofit some of the car plants to manufacture passenger cars for light-rail systems," said Williamson. "Right now, those are made in Europe and Asia."

Let's face it, folks--Detroit's gonna have it tough, but we're gonna need to step back and figure out what to do with some of our dealership sites here in town, too. Co-Op can't build car washes on all of them.

So the topic's open and in play, tovarishchi. Debate and discuss.

[You Need A Thneed]

Marlbourough Chrysler would make a darn good TOD site. You could rebuild the wheelchair ramp into the building if you wanted.

[mersar]

Macleod is already seeing this, at the rate its going there is only going to be a handful left, with Jack Carter already gone, Woodridge moving and at least one or two of the used car dealers gone, plus the section of Henniger that they seem to have abandoned.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by You Need A Thneed

Marlbourough Chrysler would make a darn good TOD site.

I think you mean Marlborough Ford, or Eastside Dodge Chrysler as both would work. Add Advantage Ford (Canyon Meadows Station), Tower Chrysler (Anderson Station), Southgate Chevrolet (bit of a stretch, but either Fish Creek-Lacombe or Shawnessy Stations), CMP Pontiac (another stretch, but Marlborough Station), and of course the old Stampede Pontiac and GSL sites. That about covers the domestics.

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

I think you mean Marlborough Ford, or Eastside Dodge Chrysler as both would work. Add Advantage Ford (Canyon Meadows Station), Tower Chrysler (Anderson Station), Southgate Chevrolet (bit of a stretch, but either Fish Creek-Lacombe or Shawnessy Stations), CMP Pontiac (another stretch, but Marlborough Station), and of course the old Stampede Pontiac and GSL sites. That about covers the domestics.

Yeah, Eastside dodge, I couldn't remember the exact name. I didn't mention Marlbourough Ford because it seems more likely at this point that Chrysler dealers will be abandoned than Ford Dealers. CMP Classic is probobly equally close to Rundle and Marlbourough station.

[frinkprof]

^Yup, but it's on the south side of 16th Avenue so much better connection to Marlborough. If we're looking exclusively at Chrysler dealerships that's fine, because Tower Chrysler has by far the most potential out of the ones I listed. Advantage Ford is right next door to Canyon Meadows Station, but Anderson has way more potential for TOD.

[mersar]

The one missing Chrysler dealer that is near a LRT station not mentioned above is Crowfoot Dodge, though given the density of car dealers in that area I personally can't see that one actually going anywhere and they don't have all that large a lot compared to others.

Around Northland is another area that could see massive change, with 2 different GM dealers (Shaganappi Chev and Northland Pontiac Buick, which are run separately though I do believe there is some common ownership), if somehow both disapeared, or even just one of them, it would open up a huge section of land, though not exactly near a current station so TOD probably wouldn't work there too well unless it was enough to spur development of the station there.

Then theres also Shaganappi's south location on Macleod as well, just south of where Woodridge Ford is vacating, which I forgot on my earlier list. I'm not too sure about who they bought out to gain that one, though I'd suspect if they faced any restructuring of their operations that one would probably go before the original dealership.

[Jimby]

Shag South used to be McKay Pontiac.

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by mersar

The one missing Chrysler dealer that is near a LRT station not mentioned above is Crowfoot Dodge, though given the density of car dealers in that area I personally can't see that one actually going anywhere and they don't have all that large a lot compared to others.

Around Northland is another area that could see massive change, with 2 different GM dealers (Shaganappi Chev and Northland Pontiac Buick, which are run separately though I do believe there is some common ownership), if somehow both disapeared, or even just one of them, it would open up a huge section of land, though not exactly near a current station so TOD probably wouldn't work there too well unless it was enough to spur development of the station there.

Then theres also Shaganappi's south location on Macleod as well, just south of where Woodridge Ford is vacating, which I forgot on my earlier list. I'm not too sure about who they bought out to gain that one, though I'd suspect if they faced any restructuring of their operations that one would probably go before the original dealership.

I was going to mention the Northland site. I'm pretty sure the 2 dealerships are owned by different people and last time I was in Northand GMC they said they were looking at building a bigger building on site. That was last fall and I'd be very surprised if it happened now.

Another overlapping site is the new Stampede GMC downtown which is currently under construction and is seperated from GSL Chev City (I think that's the name) by the Greyhound Depot which sits between the 2 sites.

I think Crowfoot Saturn/Saab closed as well, but I haven't been through Crowfoot Centre recently to verify.

[mersar]

Crowfoot Saturn is indeed gone, but has been replaced by Crowfoot Hyundai (I believe this is a continuation of the short lived Northwest Hyundai which closed last fall and became Stoney Trail Mazda)

[Wooster]

Does the demise of Pontiac mean the end for Stampede Pontiac downtown? I believe that Giffels (who buy land but still haven't actually built anything in Calgary own) picked up that property and have a mixed use project in the works.

[mersar]

Stampede Pontiac renamed itself to Stampede GMC a while back, so probably not. They are also in the process of moving to a new location anyways.

[Beltliner]

Now this is an interesting development in the Stampede GMC story from The Fishwrap:

Calgary’s Stampede GMC axed by GM, will continue to operate

By Gina Teel, The Fishwrap

CALGARY, 22 May 2009 -- Calgary’s Stampede GMC Pontiac Buick is among the car dealerships axed by General Motors of Canada Ltd.

“Stampede GMC, after October 2010, will not be continuing with GM based on the information we have now,” Glen Bridarolli, the dealership’s general manager, confirmed in an interview.

The dealership, which has served Calgary since 1954, has 86 employees.

No employees will be laid off at this time, and Bridarolli said in fact he’s hiring for the dealership’s Springbank body shop business and used vehicle sales centre set to open June 1.

At this point Stampede GMC has every intention of continuing to serve customers from its downtown location, due to open in October, he said.

“We have no intention of not serving Calgarians in our new facilities downtown and in Springbank,” Bridarolli said.

“The only thing that’s really changed for us, honestly, is that we don’t sell General Motors cars anymore, as of next October.”

He noted the dealership has sold 18 cars in two days during a sale, at the worst possible time in the industry.

Though the news came as a shock, Bridarolli said the writing was on the wall a year ago and the dealership had a transition plan in place and are currently in talks with other manufacturers.

He said employees were initially disappointed at the news Wednesday, but that shock quickly turned to hope when management shared with them that they had no intention of ceasing operations.

“What we look like today won’t be the same in two years, but there will be sales jobs, there will be technical staff jobs, there will be administrative jobs, and we have every intention of moving forward,” he said.

On Wednesday, GM said it was reducing its GM dealerships by 40 per cent country-wide by 2010.

[mersar]

Yep. What they are doing is what I suspect a lot of the dealers will do and try to get franchises from other manufacturers. Could result in a quite different looking makeup of the local dealerships in a years time.

I know that the Dodge dealership in Cochrane is already planning on opening a Toyota dealership, plans which were started before this downturn but likely they had, like Stampede GMC, seen the writing on the wall.

[freeweed]

What with the Internet and all, we don't need 1/2 the dealerships we have.

The National had an interesting piece on this the other night. Basically looking 5 years out, where we have far fewer dealerships, far fewer salespeople taking a cut, and basically a system where you can look things up yourself and be pointed to where to pick it up.

I've always found the dealership system incredibly wasteful, and I don't even know all that much about cars myself. But I sure as shit know that I don't feel like giving money to someone just because he wears a suit and can hold a door open for me.

[KrisYYC]

Originally Posted by freeweed

What with the Internet and all, we don't need 1/2 the dealerships we have.

The National had an interesting piece on this the other night. Basically looking 5 years out, where we have far fewer dealerships, far fewer salespeople taking a cut, and basically a system where you can look things up yourself and be pointed to where to pick it up.

I've always found the dealership system incredibly wasteful, and I don't even know all that much about cars myself. But I sure as shit know that I don't feel like giving money to someone just because he wears a suit and can hold a door open for me.

Did that National piece explain how test drives (the most critical part of car buying) would be carried out in that system?

[Riise]

Originally Posted by KrisYYC

Did that National piece explain how test drives (the most critical part of car buying) would be carried out in that system?

I did not read the article but I'm guessing the proposed system could easily handle test drives. It could be as simply as booking them on-line and convenient as them coming to your house with the car.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by KrisYYC

Did that National piece explain how test drives (the most critical part of car buying) would be carried out in that system?

Yes, they used the word "fewer", not "none".