Could car dealership be coming?
ADELAIDE METCALFE - It appears the business community along the Centre Road (County Road 81) commercial corridor may be growing even more. A little over 15 acres of land at the southwestern corner of Centre Road and Mullifarry Drive (opposite Macewen Gas) was severed for sale during councils Monday, 17 May 2021 meeting. The intent is for that land to contain commercial automotive uses. Exactly what those uses are remains uncertain, but evidence points toward a new car dealership taking that space. A basic sketch submitted with the severance application shows space for a showroom, service department, body shop, and potential car wash, along with ample parking space and two access driveways from Mullifarry and Centre Road. Township staff could not provide more clarity on what future uses will occupy the land, or who the purchasers of the land are. Neither the applicant, Doug Cuddy, or the applicants lawyer returned requests for comment. A car dealership would join the company of the established Chevrolet and Dodge dealers along the same stretch of road. McDonnell Motors, Strathroys Ford dealership, said that theyre staying put despite the occasional rumour that they would seek to join the other two American automobile dealers at the north end of town. It has been rumoured that it could be a used car dealership under the name FreshAuto, which currently has locations in Ingersoll and Tillsonburg. A spokesperson from that company denied having plans to open in Strathroy and stated that, although the company buys land regularly as investments, the subject lot is not theirs. If not a used dealership, the land could be a target of a foreign car dealer like Hyundai, Mitsubishi, or Honda, although discussions for many of these types of brands usually only start when the market population is 30,000 or better. The opening of a new dealership could bring jobs as well as extra competition in the car sales landscape if the company can make it work. Or, perhaps we will see that land continue to sit vacant, held by some company as an investment until a more entrepreneuring company decides to set up shop.