Auto mall takes shape in former Kmart.

Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

There will be no Blue Light Specials, but shoppers will have plenty of options when Kendall Auto Group moves three of its dealerships to an auto mall now under construction in a 116,740-square-foot north Eugene building that began life as a Kmart.

"It's going to be real nice," Dave Blewitt, Kendall's chief financial officer, said Monday. "It should be just a great place to buy a car."

About 60 workers are on the job on a typical day at the Goodpasture Island Road construction site, where the former retail store has been gutted and the exterior walls and roof of the sprawling building have been reconfigured to create more of a centralized mall.

"It's extensive," Blewitt said. "All we're using (of the building) basically is the shell. Everything inside is being remodeled and redone."

Construction is on pace to allow the move of Kendall's Chevrolet dealership - formerly Joe Romania Chevrolet on Franklin Boulevard - by July, he said. The Chevrolet dealership's move is the most time-sensitive, because Kendall's lease on the aging Franklin Boulevard property expires in July.

"The Honda and Acura (dealerships) hopefully would follow in October," Blewitt said.

Kendall's Honda dealership is currently located on Coburg Road next to its Acura dealership on Country Club Road. After the Honda and Acura dealerships join the mall, Kendall's Subaru dealership on Seventh Avenue and its Hyundai dealership in Cottage Grove will move to the company's leased lots at Coburg and Country Club roads.

Blewitt said it remains unclear what will become of the vacated Chevrolet lot on Franklin Boulevard. The lot is owned by the Romania family.

The new auto mall, on 12.3 acres just west of Delta Highway, will be the largest auto sales facility in the Eugene area and one of the largest such malls in Oregon.

Blewitt said that while the scale of the Kendall construction project is large by Eugene standards, it has not been disruptive for the company because its business is all being conducted off site.

"It's kind of like you're building a house - just picking out colors and that sort of thing," he said.

Blewitt declined to say how much Kendall is spending on the remodel.

Ordell Construction Co. of Springfield is the general contractor.

Auto malls have become increasingly popular among dealerships around the country in recent years.

They are seen as a means of attracting car shoppers to a common area, while bringing an economy of scale to their tenants.

Kendall's auto mall is expected to make its dealerships more efficient by bringing their 160 employees under one roof, boosting car sales and generating more parts and service business, company officials have said.

However, residents of the Valley River Village neighborhood across Goodpasture Island Road raised objections to the project last year. Homeowners began to raise money to fight Kendall's plans but missed a filing deadline to appeal a city hearings official's approval of the plans.

CAPTION(S):

Kendall Auto Mall will house three dealerships when work is finished in the former Kmart. It will be one of the state's biggest auto sales facilities.