Flurry of auto dealership activity involving Lund, Earnhardt, Van Tuyl, Berge, Theisen

Glendale/Scottsdale – Four separate transactions have left four Valley automobile dealerships changing hands in the past couple of weeks. Longtime Valley dealer John Lund has sold two dealerships. Traverse Bay Properties LLC in Scottsdale (John Lund, principal) sold a vacant parcel where the new dealership will be constructed. BCC Development Inc. in Phoenix (Larry Van Tuyl, principal) paid just over $5.723 million to buy a 8-acre parcel located at the northwest corner of 83rd Avenue and Bell Road in Glendale. The seller in the cash sale was represented by Marty De Rito and Martin Leon of De Rito Partners in Phoenix. The buyer was represented by Ted Marek of Ted Marek Real Estate Co. Inc. Inc. in Scottsdale. Van Tuyl representatives say the company will develop a 55,000-square-foot facility with showroom, offices, service department, etc. Look for that to open third quarter 2013 with the new name of Arrowhead Cadillac. Van Tuyl Group owns 70 dealership across the country. Van Tuyl also owns hundreds of acres of land in the Phoenix area. No word on Lund’s plans for the former Lund Cadillac dealership located at 1311 E. Bell Road in Phoenix. De Rito and Leon are assisting Lund with plans to sell or lease that property. Another company formed by Lund (Mackinac Properties LLC) in Scottsdale sold the Legends Cadillac dealership at 7901 E. Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard in Scottsdale. The buyer in that $9.975 million deal was Earnhardt Arizona Properties LLC in Chandler (Tex Earnhardt, Hal J. Earnhardt, III, Jim Earnhardt, Dodge Earnhardt, Derby Earnhardt, principals). The sale included about 23,029 sq. ft. of automotive related space on 6.73 acres. That sale was also negotiated by De Rito and Leon. Records show the Earnhardt entity acquired the Legends real estate with a $7.98 million loan from J.P. Morgan Chase Bank. With the acquisition from Lund’s company, Earnhardt now owns 17 automobile dealerships in the Phoenix area. The new dealership is being called Earnhardt Cadillac. In one of the most interesting of the automotive dealership moves, Chuck Theisen of Phoenix Motor Co. plans to move its Phoenix Mercedes-Benz store from 225 W. Indian School Road to a Scottsdale Road office building. Sources say Theisen will house the Benz dealership in a 80,488-square-foot office building at 4725 N. Scottsdale Road. The ambitious plan to move the Mercedes dealership there will require raising a part of the second floor of the three-story structure to allow a service area in the rear of the building. Plans also include building a “jewel box” made of glass that can be rolled out to Scottsdale Road. That compartment will have Mercedes vehicles inside. The 4.96-acre parcel is just north of Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall on the east side of Scottsdale Road. In April, BREW reported a company formed by Craig Coppola paying $14.35 million ($178.29 per foot) to buy the office project, which is called Highland Park. The building was developed in 1982. Sources say Theisen has completed the purchase of the company that owned the office property. No word on how much the Benz dealer paid for the project. Phoenix Motor Co., Arizona’s original Mercedes-Benz dealership since 1964, is projected to open first quarter 2014. De Rito and Leon are negotiating that sale. Finally, Earnhardt Arizona Properties LLC in Chandler paid $5.243+ million to acquire a 7.7-acre site located at 8445 E. Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard in Scottsdale. That parcel is targeted for development as a Hyundai dealership. The seller was Five B Investment Inc. in Phoenix (Brent Berge, principal). That sale was brokered through Walt Brown, Jr. of Diversified Partners in Scottsdale. The existing Hyundai store owned by Berge is at 15350 N. Hayden Road in Scottsdale. The Earnhardts have secured a $12 million construction loan from J.P. Morgan Chase Bank to build the new Hyundai location. Lund, who still owns Kachina Cadillac in Scottsdale, is at (602) 903-2352. Mike Pacheco is the contact for Van Tuyl . . . call him at (602) 230-1051. The Earnhardts are at (480) 838-6000. Reach Theisen at (602) 264-4791. Berge is at (602) 866-1776. Reach De Rito and Leon at (602) 834-8500. Call Marek at (480) 922-8988. Coppola is at (602) 956-7777. Contact Brown at (480) 947-8800.

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