As part of a nationwide image update program, San Antonio’s only Acura dealership was required to be brought to current standards in order to sell Honda’s flagship automobiles. To meet these requirements, a new dealership was constructed across the highway at the site of a former Buick dealership to take advantage of a larger parcel and to minimize disruption to their existing Acura sales and service operations. While initially considering the complete demolition and removal of the former dealership, it was determined that most of the existing foundation could be used with minor additions and adjustments saving the owner significant money.

 

We applied the national image program elements to this heavily wooded site using the former foundation. The showroom was slightly rotated to better address the highway traffic and the sales building area was increased to accommodate several other Gunn organization functions. We worked with Honda’s image program designers proposing alternative materials and construction details to save an additional $300,000 in construction costs. As one of San Antonio’s first completely conditioned service centers, the service building was oversized to handle overflow needs from nearby Honda and Infiniti dealerships, and equipment was selected to accommodate much larger vehicles from their Chevrolet, GMC, and Dodge dealerships. The 12,000 sq. ft. parts warehouse has a clear height of nearly 20’ to permit the future installation of a mezzanine to double the storage capacity.

 

Project Architect on Record: Thorn & Graves