An Audi dealership in the GTA’s Richmond Hill, currently occupied by several low-rise shops along Yonge Street will have about 55,000 square feet of dealership and 300,000 square feet of residential in 370 units. The green roof of the dealership will be used as an outdoor amenity of the building.BDP Quadrangle
The plan for a new Audi dealership in Toronto’s suburban Richmond Hill upends the classic concept of car lot. Rather than sprawling rows of shiny new models, preowned vehicles and service bays along the highway, this dealership will be in a corner of a twin-tower residential complex. The showroom will share a green roof with the residences and its service department will be on the fourth level of underground parking.
It’s part of a rapidly growing trend to rethink dealerships that typically covered big parcels of land, says Stefanie Siu-Chong, principal at architecture firm BDP Quadrangle. “Urban land is being priced out of reach and online shopping makes it less important to have a whole inventory on hand.”
Dealerships are investing in new, more attractive showrooms to entice buyers in to kick the tires and make a deal as car shopping online becomes more convenient, Ms. Siu-Chong says. In 2022, 15 per cent of new car purchases in Canada were made online, up from 12.0 per cent in 2021, according to data from goodcarbadcar.net.
But overall sales are growing. A TD Canadian Automotive Outlook report in May projects vehicle sales in Canada will grow by 9.6 per cent in 2024 – reaching 1.9 million units. Moderation is expected through the year as the economy slows and the postpandemic bounceback recedes, but the study anticipates that sales will return to the prepandemic levels of around two million in 2025 as interest rates are expected to be lowered.
Meanwhile, off-site inventory storage saves money and frees up space. “The more you can find mixed uses for the land, the more successful a dealership project will be,” she advises.
BDP is designing the complex for Dilawri Group of Companies, Canada’s largest auto group, with 82 franchised dealerships. The Richmond Hill site is currently occupied by several low-rise shops along Yonge Street, surrounded by parking lots. “We’ll have about 55,000 square feet of dealership and 300,000 square feet of residential in 370 units. The buildings are connected, and we are using the green roof of the dealership as the outdoor amenity of the building.”
The more you can find mixed uses for the land, the more successful a dealership project will be.
— Stefanie Siu-Chong, principal, BDP Quadrangle
Another notable example of intensification of uses is Downtown AutoGroup’s Autoplex in Toronto, a mixed-use development on five acres of land along the Don Valley, south of Queen Street. The new complex of the group founded by Shahin Alizadeh, president and chief executive officer, hosts 10 auto sales and service facilities representing 12 brands, including Toyota, Ford/Lincoln, Hyundai/Genesis, Nissan/Infiniti and Chrysler, Jeep, RAM and Dodge, in connected buildings and has a 120,000-square-foot warehouse off site to house inventory.
The Autoplex is part of the new Riverside Square district, with the dealerships anchoring a mixed-use development, which includes 900 new residential units, as well as street-level retail shops and public space. Parking and service facilities are located below-grade.
Kingsway Honda in Vancouver is the podium level of a three-storey, 96-unit condo with customer parking and vehicle storage on two underground levels.Destination Auto Group
The trend to multiply uses is even more pronounced in British Columbia, where land values have soared in recent years.
Destination Auto Group’s Kingsway Honda replaced a Mazda dealership on a lot that had been more than two-thirds devoted to surface parking. The new dealership is now the podium level of a three-storey, 96-unit condo with customer parking and vehicle storage on two underground levels.
Not only did the development make the city happy by including residential, but it was also a very good move for the business as well, says Adil Ahamed, the group’s president and CEO.
“Despite the smaller land footprint of the project, the form of the dealership allowed us to create a 22,850-square-foot open-concept showroom with lots of natural light and high ceilings and expand our service facility from six to 15 bays,” Mr. Ahamed says.
Having the operation on multiple levels with underground parking has also made the operation more efficient, offering a fully indoor service reception and adding car washing and detailing.
“We expect trends of increasing density to continue as the need for housing in Greater Vancouver continues to grow,” Mr. Ahamed says, “and we would look to doing similar developments in other metro locations.”
Meanwhile, the Jim Pattison Group recently finished a downtown dealership, residential and office development, including their Toyota store in Vancouver, and has just announced plans for another large project in Victoria, which will incorporate five Pattison dealerships, two residential towers and commercial space on an entire city block.
DAG Autoplex in downtown Toronto hosts dealers for 12 different brands in one complex.Wallace Immen
It’s difficult to justify the expense of a new stand-alone auto dealership when urban real estate is so valuable, says Pattison Auto Group’s president, Bill Harbottle. “You can effectively reduce your cost of land by building more density and utilizing the airspace and the underground. For example, if your land cost is $1-million, but you put 10 storeys on it, all of a sudden, your cost per storey for land is only $100,000.” It’s an idea that’s become common in Japan and some major cities in China, he notes.
To reduce the space needed for parking, the dealerships have a limited number of vehicles on site. Inventory is stored at less expensive lots off site and brought in as required, he adds.
Will dealerships themselves go high-rise? It’s already happened in Toronto. It is the 20th anniversary of a building that became a landmark along Toronto’s busy Don Valley Parkway
Unilever Canada moved out of an office tower when the site was bought for redevelopment in 2001. “The original plan was to tear the building down and build a new BMW dealership along the roadway, but the city’s zoning bylaws meant the dealership would have to be so far off the street that it wouldn’t have any visual impact,” says Jeff Hardy, principal emeritus of BDP Quadrangle. An innovative solution kept the seven-storey building and created display windows in several floors to showcase new models.
It’s a win for everyone, Mr. Hardy says. “It’s a successful reuse of a building that’s made it a landmark.”