The Redmond Company was initially selected by the Dave Wright team to identify the top three optimal locations for a new dealership facility in the rapidly-growing Cedar Rapids metro area that would provide the greatest overall opportunity for car sales and service. Redmond considered a number of factors prior to making their recommendations including a thorough analysis of income and population demographics, competing dealership data, road traffic counts, city growth potential, and historical and potential future vehicle purchase, financing, and service demands. A highly-visible and easily-accessible site was recommended and selected, and The Redmond Company was chosen to also perform the architectural design and construction of the dual-branded, ground-up facility.

The unique design of the Dave Wright Nissan-Subaru dealership blends two brands with separate manufacturer facility guidelines into one cost-effective and efficiently-run building. Featuring a centrally-located reception and service area, customers are easily directed to the showrooms on either end of the building while still having quick access to the service crews. This creative design solves a common problem for dealerships who sell more than one brand and wish to maintain the brand standards of each manufacturer.

Each side of the double-sided service drive features an Express Bay in the service reception area, allowing technicians to quickly perform routine work such as oil changes or inspections while the customer waits. A parts department located between the service drives increases operational efficiency and improves customer accessibility. In the dog-friendly showrooms, each customer lounge features a pet watering station, as well as internet stations and televisions for all to enjoy. Indoor new car delivery bays are accessible from the showrooms, making year-round car deliveries and walk-throughs comfortable and convenient.

One complication that was avoided was the early discovery of the site’s poor soil conditions, which was unearthed prior to the start of design during the due diligence phase. The Redmond team determined that the soil composition was insufficient for the facility’s planned structural design, and ultimately implemented the use of reinforcing geopiers to provide the needed stability under the building. This solution proved to be more cost effective than drilling piles or importing additional fill, and kept the project on schedule.

See more photos of the Dave Wright Subaru project here.

“We selected Redmond to provide us with a thorough analysis of locations and sites which would provide the greatest opportunity for car sales and service. It was on the strength of Redmond’s expert performance from their consulting group that we also selected them to design and build our new, ground-up, dual-franchise dealership. The results are fantastic!”

– Dave Wright, Owner

Contact The Redmond Company team for your dealership project.