A rendering of EH Automotive Group’s planned Kia dealership at 6395 Mechanicsville Turnpike. (Images courtesy Hanover County)
An out-of-town car dealership is a step closer to planting its flag in the Richmond market.
The Hanover Board of Supervisors on Wednesday OK’d a rezoning request by Atlanta-based EH Automotive Group to establish a Kia dealership at 6395 Mechanicsville Turnpike.
The property, once home to Shalom Baptist Church, had been eyed several years ago for a Lidl grocery store that was never built.
Amr Hallaba, COO at EH Automotive, said in the spring that the company planned to buy the 6-acre property from Lidl, which paid $4.8 million to acquire the land in 2017.
The status of that deal was unclear. Hanover’s online land records listed Lidl as the owner of the property as of Thursday. Hallaba didn’t return a phone message seeking comment.
The new Kia location will feature a 19,000-square-foot building and is expected to cost more than $8 million to build. Hallaba previously told BizSense that construction on the dealership is expected to take 12 to 14 months.
Jewett Construction Co. of New Hampshire is the project’s general contractor and locally based Bohler is the project engineer. Jeff Geiger of Hirschler represented EH Automotive in its rezoning process.
The project is planned to include a 200-foot right turn lane taper on eastbound Mechanicsville Turnpike in addition to a left turn lane extension on the westbound side. The dealership would use the property’s existing vehicle accesses at Mechanicsville Turnpike and Adams Farm Road.
The Hanover dealership would be EH Automotive’s first location in the region and would offer repair and maintenance services in addition to auto sales. The company has a dealership in Northern Virginia in addition to dealerships in Georgia, Tennessee, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
A June 2023 site plan for EH Automotive’s planned Kia dealership in Mechanicsville.
Hanover supervisors voted 5-1 to approve the request to rezone the property for the project. The dissenting vote came from Supervisor Angela Kelly-Wiecek.
Kelly-Wiecek said she didn’t support the project because it’s planned to feature exterior insulation and finish material (EIFS), an insulating covering attached to a building’s exterior walls.
She said the use of that building material in the construction of an office in her district had a negative effect on nearby residents.
“(The office has) a frieze that goes around the top of the building and some other panels. For two weeks the neighbors experienced a literal raining of the small Styrofoam balls. … They put up the panels and then shave them down, so we have video of literally the Styrofoam raining down in this person’s backyard,” Kelly-Wiecek said.
Supervisor Faye Prichard also expressed concerns about the EIFS building material but ultimately voted to support the project.
Supervisor W. Canova Peterson, citing his own work experience, suggested there might have been some error in the construction of the project Kelly-Wiecek cited that led to the problem.
“I’m going to speak as an architect and say right now that EIFS is a very good material. There are different types of foam. I don’t know what happened in your particular case but there is foam that is not supposed to be used with EIFS that will have the beads and what have you. It may well have been the wrong base was put on that building. I do not know. I’m not familiar with that. I’ve never had an experience such as you’re describing,” Peterson said.
A rendering of EH Automotive Group’s planned Kia dealership at 6395 Mechanicsville Turnpike. (Images courtesy Hanover County)
An out-of-town car dealership is a step closer to planting its flag in the Richmond market.
The Hanover Board of Supervisors on Wednesday OK’d a rezoning request by Atlanta-based EH Automotive Group to establish a Kia dealership at 6395 Mechanicsville Turnpike.
The property, once home to Shalom Baptist Church, had been eyed several years ago for a Lidl grocery store that was never built.
Amr Hallaba, COO at EH Automotive, said in the spring that the company planned to buy the 6-acre property from Lidl, which paid $4.8 million to acquire the land in 2017.
The status of that deal was unclear. Hanover’s online land records listed Lidl as the owner of the property as of Thursday. Hallaba didn’t return a phone message seeking comment.
The new Kia location will feature a 19,000-square-foot building and is expected to cost more than $8 million to build. Hallaba previously told BizSense that construction on the dealership is expected to take 12 to 14 months.
Jewett Construction Co. of New Hampshire is the project’s general contractor and locally based Bohler is the project engineer. Jeff Geiger of Hirschler represented EH Automotive in its rezoning process.
The project is planned to include a 200-foot right turn lane taper on eastbound Mechanicsville Turnpike in addition to a left turn lane extension on the westbound side. The dealership would use the property’s existing vehicle accesses at Mechanicsville Turnpike and Adams Farm Road.
The Hanover dealership would be EH Automotive’s first location in the region and would offer repair and maintenance services in addition to auto sales. The company has a dealership in Northern Virginia in addition to dealerships in Georgia, Tennessee, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
A June 2023 site plan for EH Automotive’s planned Kia dealership in Mechanicsville.
Hanover supervisors voted 5-1 to approve the request to rezone the property for the project. The dissenting vote came from Supervisor Angela Kelly-Wiecek.
Kelly-Wiecek said she didn’t support the project because it’s planned to feature exterior insulation and finish material (EIFS), an insulating covering attached to a building’s exterior walls.
She said the use of that building material in the construction of an office in her district had a negative effect on nearby residents.
“(The office has) a frieze that goes around the top of the building and some other panels. For two weeks the neighbors experienced a literal raining of the small Styrofoam balls. … They put up the panels and then shave them down, so we have video of literally the Styrofoam raining down in this person’s backyard,” Kelly-Wiecek said.
Supervisor Faye Prichard also expressed concerns about the EIFS building material but ultimately voted to support the project.
Supervisor W. Canova Peterson, citing his own work experience, suggested there might have been some error in the construction of the project Kelly-Wiecek cited that led to the problem.
“I’m going to speak as an architect and say right now that EIFS is a very good material. There are different types of foam. I don’t know what happened in your particular case but there is foam that is not supposed to be used with EIFS that will have the beads and what have you. It may well have been the wrong base was put on that building. I do not know. I’m not familiar with that. I’ve never had an experience such as you’re describing,” Peterson said.
I feel bad for the neighbors adjacent to the property. I don’t think this is a good idea and would’ve been more appropriate a little further up the street (across from the Bill Talley Ford). Pretty sure that land isn’t for sale but that would be a better location than this.