Saturday, July 6, 2013

Premier Automotive Group at University Town Center (Morgantown, WV)

Ah, the smell of new cars and new car showrooms!  Yep, there's a new dealership in town.  Actually it's a dealership in a new location.  Premier Automotive Group, which sells Chevrolet, GMC, and Buick, moved from the outskirts of downtown Morgantown, a building which was at least 50 years old to a brand new showroom with service facilities at University Town Center in Granville, West Virginia.  This new facility opened in late May 2013 with a grand opening in June 2013.  The move took the dealership out of a busy downtown corridor to a developing shopping center that features WalMart, Sam's Club, Dick's Sporting Goods, Target, Giant Eagle, and Best Buy among other stores.
This facility had been under construction for at least a year and is located on several acres.  The lot is flat with an entrance for delivery trucks and a main entrance that will lead you to the Chevrolet showroom.  Then there is a gap that will lead you to the Buick-GMC showroom.  The lot itself has marked parking spaces for vehicles for sale and marked parking spaces for customer parking.  There seems to be many spots available for customer parking.
I am sure the owners of this dealership has developed the facility for current and future needs.   Not many dealerships have the opportunity to build from scratch.   This shopping area is due for further expansion in the futre as West Virginia University has plans to build a new baseball stadium to feature college teams as well as minor league teams.  This retail area has recently been approved as a TIF district that will bring local taxes towards infrastructure.  The state of West Virginia also plans to build an exit from Interstate 79 to go directly into this shopping center.  

Star Motor Company on Bridgeport Hill

Star Motor Company recently opened a pre-owned sales center on Bridgeport Hill in Clarksburg, West Virginia.  This isn't their first foray with a satellite location outside of their main location in Clarksburg near Veteran's Park.  At that location they sell Volkswagens and Audi and Mahindra Tractors are sold in that location as well.
This new location opened in late May shortly after Country Club Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep closed a pre-owned center a couple hundred of yards to the west.  This location has an pre-fabricated office building which I believe is a renovated building that Hilltop Motors nearby had used prior to a fire.
This location has Star Motors signage that can be seen from Bridgeport Hill Road and has color animated signage below it.
What kind of vehicles do they have in stock?  Not just pre-owned vehicles, but they also have many new Volkswagens in stock.  I would estimate there were about 25 new vehicles and about the same number of pre-owned cars.
How permanent is this location?  The lot is still gravel and there is a portable building used as an office with no service facilities on site.  But the sign at the roadside looks to be a considerable investment.  There is also thought that once Mahindra Tractors move to the Meadowbrook exit of Interstate 79, the former Saturn building could be renovated into a Volkswagen showroom.
This new facility will give increased exposure to Star Motors to those who are car shopping on Bridgeport Hill with two General Motors and a Ford dealership located on the same strip of roadway.