FORD DROPS SUPER-LOT PLAN; DEALERS BALKED AT PROPOSAL FOR BURBANK FACILITY.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Daily News Staff Writer

Ford Motor Co. has scrapped plans for an automobile superstore after encountering problems pulling dealers together for a new complex in Burbank, officials said Thursday.

Whether a dealership will be built in the east San Fernando Valley area without Ford's help remains unclear. While Burbank's city manager was optimistic, one of the dealers involved called the plan dead, and the other dealer involved refused to say whether he was still pursuing a dealership in the area.

Ford, which has already paid $12.75 million for an eight-acre site fronting the Golden State Freeway, envisioned forming a Ford Retail Network with at least two of the partners being Bert Boeckmann, owner of Galpin Motors in North Hills, and Ed Jussen, owner of Star Ford and Star Lincoln Mercury in Glendale.

Exactly what killed the deal, which also included Magic Ford and Magic Lincoln Mercury in Valencia, is unclear.

Jussen said he declined to participate in the project after learning his Glendale dealerships would eventually be closed.

``It's dead,'' Jussen said of the plan. ``The last word I had from Ford was that they were unable to put the project together. It's over.''

Boeckmann, who sold more Fords than any other dealer in the country in 1997, said terms of the deal simply were not to his liking.

``I would have had 75 percent of Glendale and he was very willing to sell it. I didn't want to buy,'' Boeckmann said.

Executives at Ford Investment Enterprises Corp. in Dearborn, Mich., which oversees the retail networks, refused to discuss the development.

``We won't comment on this particular situation,'' said spokesman John Oakes.

Boeckmann has been involved with the Burbank project for more than a year. Initially, he planned to buy the land in the 700 block of Front Street near Burbank Boulevard from Zero Corp., which used it for a manufacturing facility.

The deal was then structured so that Ford bought the land and Boeckmann would put up the buildings. He would purchase the land once construction was complete and run the dealership.

To that end, the Burbank City Council kicked in some incentives to bring the business to town, including giving Boeckmann a 60-foot-by-1,000-foot strip of land valued at $2.4 million and loaning him $3 million at 7 percent interest to help defray construction costs.

The city also agreed to pay Boeckmann an amount equal to 50 percent of the sales tax generated by the new dealership in its first 10 years or until $9 million was grossed, whichever came first.

Boeckmann earlier estimated that it would cost $16 million to build the new dealership.

He declined to address his specific plans for the Burbank site.

``We are moving in a different direction. We are not releasing any details . . . until things are finalized,'' Boeckmann said.

Burbank City Manager Robert R. ``Bud'' Ovrom said the latest development is a setback, but not a fatal blow, to establishing an auto center in town.

While Ford has taken title to the land - well-suited for a dealership because of its visibility from the Golden State Freeway - Boeckmann has an option to purchase it.

``This is one of the reasons for our optimism,'' Ovrom said.

He also said while the retail network was a factory-sponsored plan, Boeckmann can still develop his own automobile-retailing project. The agreement with the city allows him to proceed with any three franchises from Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda and Mazda.

In fact, the project Boeckmann first proposed was a GM Village with Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Cadillac and GMC trucks, Ovrom said.

CAPTION(S):

Map

MAP: Site of proposed car super store