Closed Auto Dealerships Littering Landscape
Auto manufacturers are not the only ones taking a hit of late. Auto dealerships in cities all over the country are failing. Residents of these cities will lose jobs while the cities will be left with properties poorly suited to other uses.
The best use for old new car dealerships is as used car dealers. With auto sales putting on the brakes it is unlikely we’ll see more used dealerships filling up spaces left by closed new car dealerships.
So what do we do with these single use spaces? In older core cities the properties have great potential for mixed-use development. Out in the burbs the prospects are not so good. With too much big box and failing indoor mall inventory already, these may sit vacant for quite a while.
Making use of former dealerships is not a new problem but adapting early dealership buildings is easier and more elegant. Many from the early 20th century now serve as residential lofts, office space and as restaurant space like The Fountain on Locust (former Stutz showroom) and as a venue space such as Lumen (former Packard showroom), also on Locust. These early auto showrooms were in fine buildings built up to the sidewalk making them part of burgeoning walkable neighborhoods. Newer auto rows, however, have cheap low-rise buildings set back behind huge surface parking lots. Adapting these properties will necessitate clearing the land and starting over.
It appears there is renovation going on at the former McMahon Lincoln/Mercury dealership on Kingshighway. Does anyone know what’s going on there?
One, I don’t know ’bout McM L-M, but I was wondering the same thing, as well. Two, the market will decide, in gross terms, both literally and figuratively, what happens. If the land is valuable, it will see “higher and better” uses. If it’s like a lot of suburban commercial corridors, or even this stretch of Kingshighway, demand will be weak and “hermit-crab” uses will eventually fill the buildings. They include anything that’s “retail” and can use a large parking lot, including non-denominational churches (like the one that moved into the old mortuary south of Chippewa), Hobby Lobby or Michael’s, used-car or RV dealers, aftermarket auto-parts vendors and body shops, Burlington Coat Factory, restuarants, banquet facilities and dance bars/clubs, indoor paintball, charter schools, antique malls and flea markets, to name just a few. It all gets back to a robust local economy. Supply and demand will find some level, and we’ll only see improvement when the economy improves . . .
Work at the former LM? I hope whoever is doing it doesn’t cover up the terra cotta parapet caps. A very pretty color of dark red/maroon.
^So far the maroon caps are still there, I like them too. You know, the likelihood of something happening at the former King Jeep property at Southwest and Kinshighway is probably very low, given the fact that the property at the southeast side of that intersection has been an empty lot for years and years. There appears to be very little interest in that intersection from an investment/development point of view.
Just the tip of the iceberg… now Circuit City’s liquidation has been sealed by a judge. This will add more big box real estate to the “For Lease” space (over 560 stores) and increase unemployment. Other mall tenants will suffer and you know GGP, one of the largest mall owners including the Galleria, is on their death bed. The car culture and its offsprings (auto dealers, big malls, big parking lots, expanded highways, etc.) is harming everyone and bringing down more than just their worshippers.
What I think is unique and thus preferable for future re-use is that most car dealerships needed more parking space then space under a roof. A parking lot is very easy to rip up/demo. The buildings can’t be much more of an effort. Thus, readily available land along major arterial roads without having to destroying the fabric of the surrounding community. It will interesting if the city can find ways to maximize these locations along major arterials. However, one hindrance that I see has holding up any meaningful redevelopment and will take some government action to help resolve is the service bays (oil, lubes, grease, etc, maybe even tanks in the ground). Nobody will touch these properties unless they are cleared of any environmental liability/responsibility.
Convert parking garages to dealerships.
Turn the former city sites into residential.
Let the county deal with vacancy. We’ve been doing that for 30 years or more already.
Sustained retail vacancies, be they big box or auto dealers, are a symptom of a much larger problem, specifically too much supply and too little demand, combined, somewhat, with poor design. Deer Creek Shopping Center in Maplewood is one classic example, even the post office has moved out. And yes, there are plans to rebuild the site, but I’ve yet to see much real progress.
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Another example – in Louisville, one of the Toyota stores recently completed a new, larger facility. Mazda moved into the old Toyota place, and Hyundai moved into Mazda’s old store, leaving the old Hyundai store (originally Lincoln-Mercury) vacant and for lease or sale in an older part of suburbia. Retailers follow the money – persistent (as opposed to transitory) vacancies simply show a declining retail market, and, unfortunately, S. Kingshighway fits that description well.
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In reality, rarely are auto dealerships replaced with higher and better uses. The only recent case I’m aware of locally is Saturn being kicked out for a Wal·Mart in Manchester, and I really wouldn’t call that a better use. The challenge is that most dealerships are located along major thoroughfares or freeways, places where density isn’t usually necessary and most people wouldn’t want to live (too much traffic and noise), and especially to purchase – the downtown dealer/future loft project is an increasing rarity. The only way to change this paradigm would be to develop a viable public transit system that would encourage higher densities.
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Small picture, yes, closed dealerships present an opportunity. Bigger picture, however, as a city, we’re simply not lacking in developable land, we’re lacking in demand for all the vacant and underutilized real estate we have now! Stores are closing because our residents aren’t spending or are choosing to spend elsewhere. Residential real estate has more sellers than buyers, so there’s no reason to build more. We can all agree that more-urban, multi-story, mixed-use structures pulled up to the sidewalks is what we’d prefer, but until people start spending their money on and in these ideals, developers will develop what the market continues to consume and what our government continues to encourage in hopes of generating more sales taxes, single-story, auto-centric, generic retail . . .
Jim, off topic. They are doing some serious sewer/storm water work over at Deer Creek Plaza. However, not sure if it related to an MSD project for the area or the future development that is proposed (retirement community that Paric was supposedly going to build for the developor). Been trying to find the answer.
Which goes back to reuse – Deer Creek Plaza in my mind is an ideal area for putting back in some dense residential development versus the attempt to maintain the downward spiral of box store/strip mall development. It is near a metrolink station (Sunnen station not too far and easily reachable by the sidewalks), next to Deer Creek Park and a developing Greenway and having some established retail within easy walking distance doesn’t hurt (Had a coffee from the McDonalds in Deer Creek Plaza this morning). However, I’m fearful that this development is going to lose out because of that huge retirement development proposed for greenfield property on Gravios Rd next to Grant’s Farm.
No reason why both developments can’t be viable – we have an aging boomer population and both developments are/would be well-located. The trillion dollar question is the economy – will boomers have any retirement money left and can the developer get financing for Deer Creek? (And I agree that it’s a good location for higher-density residential. My point was that it’s not likely to be, nor was it ever, a great retail site.)
Huge opportunities will exist for those that can make these massive big box store vacancies work in some other form. I imagine you’ll see these boxes get split up and subdivided into smaller spaces. Areas in the county are going to get slammed with these big box store closings. These retail closings are one of the final steps that need to happen in conjunction with the residential foreclosures.
I thought the deal with Deer Creek Shopping Center was that it’s in the flood plain. So, flood insurance is required and probably approval from various regulatory agencies including MSD.
Also, although it’s a short walk to Sunnen MetroLink, it is a STEEP walk up Laclede Station. It’s a tough grade to negotiate, especially in bad weather or for mobility impaired individuals. But that area has lots of steep grades, I suppose.
Site planning for residential would also need to consider the active freight railroad corridor along the northern edge, and the adjacent high-line MetroLink right-of-way which very nearly runs above the retail buildings.
Meanwhile, I could certainly see a medium-density TOD project replacing the 1960s/70s apartment complexes along Laclede Station between the railroad tracks and the MetroLink station. There’s also some vacant land and a few single-families, most of which are now owned by Sunnen Products itself.
“I’m not against cars. But your city doesn’t have to be oriented toward them. A car is like your mother-in-law. You want to have a good relationship with her, but you can’t let her conduct your life.”
— Jaime Lerner, former Mayor of Curitaba, Brazil
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It really is a shame that people are losing jobs through this, but if new ones are creating in its place, its a bit better.
Hi,
Its really great work guys but how you gather this types information its really big information guys about that Auto manufacturers are not the only ones taking a hit of late. Auto dealerships in cities all over the country are failing.
Thanks
Hi,
Its really great work guys but how you gather this types information its really big information guys about that Auto manufacturers are not the only ones taking a hit of late. Auto dealerships in cities all over the country are failing.
Thanks