Bayway Auto Group, of Houston, bought a Cadillac store from Group 1 Automotive Inc. last month, for its second dealership selling the luxury brand.
Bayway Auto on Nov. 1 purchased Sterling McCall Cadillac in Houston and renamed it Bayway Cadillac Southwest.
Bayway Auto owner Darryl Wischnewsky said he bought the Cadillac store from Group 1 and moved it into a former Jaguar-Land Rover facility that he purchased, located right next to the property.
“It was kind of like a three-party transaction,” Wischnewsky told Automotive News.
The stores are located in an area that has little space to build a new dealership, Wischnewsky said.
“You pretty much have to buy somebody’s business out and do a tear-down and build, and that wasn’t really feasible,” he said. “Jaguar had moved to a new facility, even though this [one] was in excellent shape.”
Wischnewsky and Bayway Cadillac Southwest General Manager Dimitrios Platsas said the 11-acre, 70,000-square-foot facility will be renovated to make it Cadillac image-compliant. Construction is slated to start in the spring.
Group 1 confirmed the sale, and a spokesman said it opted to sell the Cadillac store to expand its Buick-GMC dealership on the campus.
In addition to the two Cadillac stores, Bayway Auto also has two Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram stores, a Chevrolet dealership, a Lincoln store and a Volvo store, all in the Houston metro area.
Group 1, also of Houston, ranks No. 4 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 140,221 new vehicles in 2020.
