Foothill Nissan closes its doors

If you go to the company website, you’ll find that “currently there are no new vehicle specials.” There also are no pre-owned specials, finance specials, weekend specials, or staff listings.

In fact, there’s about as little life left now on its website as there is on the Foothill Nissan of La Crescenta’s Foothill Boulevard car lot. The lot slowly but surely emptied of staff, vehicles and customers last week, to the surprise of some and little or no notice of others.

With little fanfare, the dealership quietly closed and locked its doors. According to a real estate source who does not want to be identified, the property is, or will soon be, listed at $16 million; however, that information could not be verified and Mike Taheri, the property and Nissan dealership owner, did not return phone calls from the Valley Sun, except to leave a voice mail message more than a week ago saying a statement was being prepared and would be released within a few days. It had not been released as of press time Wednesday.

Chris Waldheim, an owner and general manager of J’s Maintenance in La Crescenta, noticed about two weeks ago that there was something happening at the dealership. He’d gone over to the facility to collect payment for his company’s regular cleaning of the business, when he noticed the mechanics were packing up the gear, there were no sales representatives on the floor and the service manager was standing around watching the mechanics pack up, Waldheim said.

“I asked the service manager and he said they were closing and they’d be getting the cars out of there in the next few days,” he said.

A few days later, most of the cars remained on the lot, but no people could be found, Waldheim said. “I don’t know what happened. There was no sign on the window, nothing. They’re just gone. No activity, nothing.”

Taheri also owns Lancaster Auto Group in the city of Lancaster, and purchased Foothill Nissan about two years ago, according to Jean Maluccio, a member of the board of directors for the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce.

There were a lot of positive changes at the La Crescenta property after Taheri took ownership, primarily through more community involvement and the addition of a beautiful new sign, Maluccio said.

A CV Chamber of Commerce business mixer was held at the dealership shortly after Taheri became the new owner, Maluccio recalled. “They really tried to work with the community,” she added.

Surprise was the key element for many residents and business owners as word trickled out about the dealership closing. “I didn’t even know it closed,” said Crescenta Valley Town Council Mayor Grace Andrus.