By Mike Copeland Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas
Publication: Waco Tribune-Herald (Texas)
Date: Thursday, December 17 2009
Dec. 17–The building at Valley Mills and Wooded Acres drives now serves as home to Allen Samuels Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep, but it likely will be demolished to make room for stores and restaurants.
Crawford-Austin Properties, Inc. has signed a contract to buy the building, company president Gordon Harriman III confirmed Wednesday. But its development plans must wait until Samuels’ lease on the property expires.
Harriman said he will acquire the entire 4.2-acre site that Sam Nay’s Waco Dodge once occupied.
He will take the complex “down to dirt,” making room for 13,000 to 15,000 square feet of retail space and two restaurants.
But he can’t lift a shovel until Samuels’ lease expires in 2011. Samuels is leasing the building from Sam Nay, who had a 39-year relationship with Chrysler that ended this year when the financially troubled automaker named Waco Dodge one of 789 underperforming dealers nationwide and refused to renew Nay’s franchise.
Nay disputed Chrysler’s assessment, but when the company granted Samuels permission to sell all three Chrysler brands — Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge — Nay agreed to lease the Waco Dodge space to him.
Chrysler made no secret of the fact it would give preference to dealers who sold all three under one roof. So it pulled Marstaller Motors’ license to sell Jeep products and Jeff Hunter Motors’ license to sell Chrysler vehicles.
In the long term, Samuels plans to build a new dealership on West Loop 340, where Foxworth-Galbraith Building Materials now operates. He will level Foxworth-Galbraith, which will open a new store nearby.
Harriman said he could not resist the potential of the Valley Mills and Wooded Acres drives location.
“I think that is the premier hard corner on Valley Mills Drive,” Harriman said.
He said he believes he can attract five national-name tenants to that corner, but he declined to speculate on the type of retailers that might locate there. He will make outparcels available for restaurants or other users.
Mike Meadows with Kelly Realtors will serve as his leasing agent, Harriman said.
Holly Dunham, Nay’s daughter and a partner in the family’s land holdings, said, “Obviously, I have mixed emotions because Waco Dodge was a part of Waco and our lives for 40 years, but it’s time to move on.”
She said she wishes Crawford-Austin Properties, Inc. success in its venture.
“I hope they bring a wonderful new restaurant to Waco, and maybe a great little boutique,” she said.
The Nays still own and operate the local Hyundai dealership.
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