Redevelopment Agency OKs Expansion by Auto Group

The city’s redevelopment agency has sealed a deal with Buena Park Toyota to expand the car dealership along Manchester Boulevard to Stanton Avenue.

The deal is the second phase of a 1994 agreement with the Cerritos-based Webb Automotive Group to build a new dealership on Manchester.

The company, which had been on a smaller site on Orangethorpe Avenue since 1986, has now picked up an expansion option from the original agreement.

The plan would extend the dealership from Beach Boulevard to Stanton and nearly double its size to 6.3 acres.

The dealership has guaranteed the city, which has spent $3 million in redevelopment funds on the project, a total of $550,000 in sales tax revenue over a 10-year period.

The guarantee runs with the land so that, even if the company goes under, the sales tax guarantee will be paid, said May Hui, acting deputy executive director of the city Economic Development Division.

Division officials said they expect the project to help revitalize the central business district redevelopment area, which is blighted.

The agency’s staff report said the land, which the Webb group is buying from the agency, was formerly occupied by a dilapidated abandoned restaurant and a vacant office building.

Auto agency building plans call for construction of a showroom, offices, storage and a service area on the land.

“This will contribute to our five-year plan for the central business district,” Hui said.

Officials with the Webb group said building will begin as soon as permits are issued.

The group also hopes to persuade the other auto dealers in the area to contribute to a freeway sign advertising businesses on auto row, said John Maynard, a manager with the company.