PORT ANGELES — Price Ford Lincoln Mercury is moving to larger, if not greener, pastures just outside of town.
The Port Angeles car dealership is relocating to a six-acre site at 3311 U.S. Highway 101, just west of the Walmart Supercenter, said owner David Price.
Price said he is aiming at opening the new dealership, with a larger service center and showroom, in mid-summer.
The Ford dealership has been located at 1522 E. Front St. since 1970.
The 16,000-square-foot facility sits on 2.62 acres, which Price leases.
The new dealership will be 26,000 square feet in size.
Price, who bought the dealership in 2006, said he is making the move because he has no more room to expand.
“It’s going to be harder to grow the business on the property it sits on,” he said. “We need the room.”
Price said he thinks a larger dealership will do fine as the economy recovers from recession and added that the new location will make it more visible to traffic. The market, he said with confidence, will be there.
“We outgrew the location on the recession,” Price said.
The new dealership will have a mountain lodge theme, with river rock columns.
The site is located outside of the Port Angeles city limit.
City Manager Kent Myers said the move will be a loss for the city’s sales tax revenue.
But he said it will continue to receive some revenue since the city and the county share some proceeds in the eastern urban growth area, where the dealership is relocating.
Price said he bought the property about a year ago.
It includes Rusty’s Auto Repair, which he said will move across from the nearby Safeway before the dealership is finished. The building will be demolished, Price said.
Schmitt’s Sheet Metal also was located in that building. Price said that business has moved behind Wilder Auto Center.
A site of a third business, a used-car dealership called Crazy Nicks, was demolished at the start of construction in the fall.
Price said he’s not aware of the business relocating.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
