Chehalis City Council Approves Lease With Auto Dealership - Centralia Chronicle

autosoto.blogspot.com

By The Chronicle staff

The Chehalis City Council approved a lease agreement with O’Brien Auto Team to construct a 24,000 square-foot Honda dealership on the Chehalis-Centralia Airport property at their Monday evening meeting.

The parcel of land that the O’Brien Auto Team will be leasing from the city is located at 1850 NW Louisiana Avenue between I-5 Toyota and Dutch Bros Coffee.

John Csernotta, president of Honda of Grays Harbor, spoke at the council meeting to explain more about his 30-plus year background in the automotive industry and his plans for the car dealership in Chehalis. Joe O’Brien, with the O’Brien Auto Group, has partnered with Csernotta to bring a Honda dealership to Chehalis.

“We are expanding our footprint and we would like to come to Chehalis and be a part of the community and open up another Honda store,” he said. “We truly believe it’s a win-win-win. It’s a win for Honda, it’s a win for the city and it’s a win for us personally investing here in a brand new facility.”

Csernotta and his partner, O’Brien, drew up a business plan with Honda in June of 2019, he said, and has been working closely with Chehalis city staff and the city attorney.

“Attorney John Elias has been in negotiations with the Chehalis-Centralia Airport on behalf of his client, the O’Brien Auto Team, to lease a site for an automobile dealership. The proposed site, Tract 9, is approximately four gross acres of land,” reads the Chehalis City Council agenda report.

The O’Brien Auto Group, established in 1986, already has locations in Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Everett and Tacoma, as well as locations in Oregon.

“As a premier Washington state auto group, our dealer selection reflects the most popular automotive brands in the market today with convenient locations spanning from Kirkland to Tacoma in Washington and serving Portland and Wilsonville in Oregon. To make it easy for our customers, our locations feature easy driving directions typically within just a few miles of I-5 and I-405,” states the auto group on their website.

The city will receive an initial lease revenue of $92,347.20 annually which is restricted for the operation of the Chehalis-Centralia Airport, the city council agenda states. The lease agreement has been reviewed by the city’s attorney.

The city council meeting and additional information about the lease can be viewed on the city’s website — www.ci.chehalis.wa.us.

Let's block ads! (Why?)