Hendrick plans to open Subaru dealership Sept. 1

The Hendrick Automotive Group plans to open its new Subaru dealership in Hoover on Sept. 1, company officials said.

The dealership is under construction on a 2.85-acre parcel at 2929 John Hawkins Parkway between Applebee’s and Home Bridge Financial Services.

Hendrick Subaru of Hoover plans to keep an inventory of about 200 new vehicles and 100 used vehicles, said John Gallagher, Hendrick’s vice president who oversees the Alabama market.

About 105 of those vehicles will be on the sales site, and the rest will be kept on a 1.5-acre holding lot down the street, said Gene Cocchi, Hendrick’s vice president of real estate.

It will be considered a sister dealership to the Hendrick Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram and Hendrick Chevrolet dealerships along U.S. 31.

“The Hoover market is really amazing,” Gallagher said. The Hendrick Chrysler and Chevrolet dealerships in Hoover have the highest sales volume of any Chrysler and Chevrolet dealerships in the Birmingham area, he said. “If you were going to pick a place to put a store, you’d want to put it in Hoover.”

Hendrick entered the Hoover market in 2011 when it purchased the Don Drennen Buick dealership and converted it into a Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership. Then in 2014, Hendrick bought the Ivan Leonard Chevrolet dealership next door and renamed it Hendrick Chevrolet. The two dealerships together are known as the Hendrick Hoover Auto Mall.

Gallagher said Hendrick wanted to add a Subaru dealership because of the success Subaru has been having nationally, with sales increases nine years in a row — 250 percent in total. Hendrick has two other Subaru dealerships: Darrell Waltrip Subaru in Franklin, Tennessee, and Hendrick Subaru Southpoint in Durham, North Carolina.

Company officials looked for a site for the Hoover Subaru dealership closer to the other Hendrick dealerships in Hoover, but the one on John Hawkins Parkway was as close as they could find, Cocchi said.

Developing land in Hoover is challenging because of the terrain, he said. “It’s riddled with rock and hills.”

Hendrick went with a terraced look for the site on John Hawkins Parkway, which allowed the company to save $1 million in blasting costs, Cocchi said. But the company still removed about 25 feet of rock to erect the building, he said.

The 21,500-square-foot building will have a showroom, sales area and customer lounge for service on the lower level, closest to the highway, and 14 mechanical service bays for repair and maintenance on the upper level, toward the back of the building, Cocchi said.

Hendrick started moving forward with construction plans in spring 2017 and actually broke ground on the project around January, he said. Vannoy Construction of West Jefferson, North Carolina, is handling the project.

Gallagher said Hendrick has high hopes for the new Subaru dealership. It will be the second Subaru dealership in the Birmingham area, with the other in downtown Birmingham. Hendrick plans to sell about 100 new Subaru vehicles per month, he said.

The dealership will have 43 employees initially but likely will grow to about 80, he said. People interested in employment can visit HendrickCareers.com.

Bill Kimbrough, the retail operations manager for the Darrell Waltrip Subaru dealership in Franklin, Tennessee, has moved to Hoover to become general manager for the new dealership.