Establishes Chrysler and Jeep dealership in $3.5 million project ONEIDA — Summit Auto Group kicked off June with a brand new location in Oneida, expanding the Syracuse–based auto dealership’s reach to the east. Located where Routes 365A and 5 meet, just across from the Wal-Mart Supercenter, the new 18,000-square-foot Chrysler and Jeep dealership features […]
Establishes Chrysler and Jeep dealership in $3.5 million project
ONEIDA — Summit Auto Group kicked off June with a brand new location in Oneida, expanding the Syracuse–based auto dealership’s reach to the east.
Located where Routes 365A and 5 meet, just across from the Wal-Mart Supercenter, the new 18,000-square-foot Chrysler and Jeep dealership features a showroom, sales area, parts department, and service center, says Stephen DiMarco, CEO/CFO and partner at Summit.
Summit Auto Group purchased several parcels of land, totaling just under five acres, from the Cook family. When all is done, Summit will spend $3.5 million on the project. The company worked with Oneida Savings Bank for the mortgage as well as the construction loan, DiMarco says.
The new dealership is located just down the street from a Nye Automotive Group dealership, and DiMarco says he expects both Summit and Nye to benefit from his new location. “The more dealerships in the area, the better because it brings more people,” he says.
At press time, the project was nearly complete with some paving and landscaping left. DiMarco hoped to open the first week in June.
Currently, Summit Auto Group (www.summitcars.com) operates a Dodge and Ram dealership in Syracuse; a Ford and Lincoln dealership in Auburn; a Chevy, Buick and GMC dealership in Auburn; and a Goodyear Tire, CARQUEST Auto Parts, and collision center in Elbridge.
“We wanted to be able to have the Chrysler and Jeep products to complement the Dodge and Ram” dealership in Syracuse, DiMarco says. Oneida is the ideal location for the new dealership because it spreads Summit’s reach further east, but is still within easy reach of the company’s Syracuse headquarters, he contends.
On top of that, the markets are close enough where radio and television stations overlap, which means marketing costs won’t increase, he adds.
The timing was right to take the leap, DiMarco says, of the new location. “We’ve seen a pretty good upswing in car sales year over year and we hope to see that continue,” he says.
Summit Auto Group sells between 3,000 and 3,500 cars annually between all its locations, and DiMarco expects the Oneida dealership will add another 1,000 vehicles to that total.
The auto dealership has hired about 20 employees so far and expects to add more in the sales, service, and parts department, as well as the office, once the dealership is up and running at full speed.
Summit Auto Group hired Rich & Gardner Construction Co. of Syracuse as the project’s construction manager. Woolley Morris Architects of Syracuse and W.M. Engineers of Camillus also worked on the project.
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