Ocean Honda Breaks New Ground
Posted In Franchise Dealerships
The news out of Wall Street may be scary, but Steve John is moving full steam ahead with a new multimillion-dollar dealership for Ocean Honda.
At a ground-breaking party Wednesday for 125 people, he didn’t want to say how much it cost, quipping, “I’ve got to sell a lot of Hondas.”
A two-story, 43,000-square-foot showroom and repair facility like John is building could cost $7 million to $8 million, said Eric Van Olst, Honda’s Northern California sales manager. That doesn’t include the cost of the 4.2 acres on Soquel Drive near Home Depot and Safeway, which is nearly twice as large as the existing dealership in Capitola.
Ocean Honda’s new home is one of four large Honda dealerships under construction in Northern California, said Van Olst, who predicted car sales would rise slightly in 2009, when the 4-door Insight hybrid comes out, and rebound in 2010.
“Honda sales nationally are up 4 percent this year, while sales in Northern California are down 5 percent, still better than overall vehicle sales, which are off by 15 percent.”
John, 44, plans to hire more employees by the March opening because he’s expanding service bays from 16 to 28. He employs 77 people now.
“We didn’t steal him away,” county Supervisor Jan Beautz said of John and his dealership. “He needed more space.”
The move will shift sales tax revenue — potentially 1,200 cars a year — from Capitola to the county, which Beautz called “wonderful.”
Employees wearing Ocean’s blue shirts donned white hard hats as Mark Fitzpatrick of Valli Construction showed them the progress so far. He pointed out where the dealer will offer a while-you-wait oil change and drive-in car wash. For customers, there will be flat-screen televisions; for employees, new work benches.