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CarMax, Inc., the country’s largest retailer of used cars, plans to build a CarMax Auto Superstore on a 20-acre site at I-580 and El Charro Road on Pleasanton’s far northeast side.
The pre-owned car dealership would include three main single-story buildings with heights of up to 24 feet, including a main 13,064-square-foot “sales and presentation” building facing the 580 freeway.
A larger 45,000-square-foot service building would be located farther south, with other buildings, including a non-public car wash, to be built between the freeway and Stoneridge Drive, where the main entry to CarMax will be located.
Keith Henderson, the company’s real estate representative from its headquarters in Richmond, Va., told members of the city’s Planning Commission that CarMax will occupy on 20 of the 37 acre corner of Staples Ranch, leaving two other parcels available for new car dealerships in the future.
At one time, the Hendrick Automotive Group had planned to develop the entire auto mall site, but backed off as the recession hit and chose instead to expand its existing facilities in Pleasanton just off Santa Rita Road.
Henderson said CarMax has grown to over 100 locations since opening its first outlet in 1993 and has sold more than 4 million cars since then.
“Last year we sold 450,000 vehicles at our 130 stores in 55 markets across the country,” Henderson said. “Pleasanton will be one of our first stores in the Bay Area.”
He said the company prides itself on a hassle-free relationship with its customers where sales representatives do not haggle on prices. What the price shows on the car is what CarMax sells it for.
CarMax also plans to erect at 45-foot tall pylon sign at the edge of I-580 with a 20-foot wide illuminated sign in the company’s gold, white and blue colors. Ground-level monument signs will be located at other parts of the site.
Henderson said the Pleasanton site will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday with limited hours on Sunday. The service areas will operate from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
CarMax operates differently from traditional car dealerships in that it separates its inventory area from customer and employee parking areas. This is both for loss prevention control as well as operational efficiency and safety, Henderson explained.
Also, CarMax does not use outdoor loudspeakers as sales associates carry pagers and cell phones for communications. In addition , the company does not use flags, balloons, inflatable gorillas or any other animal, placards in open car hoods, painted window lettering or other similar marketing techniques.
After questioning, members of the Planning Commission indicated that they would likely approve CarMax’s application to build its pre-owned car center on Staples when the proposal is formally submitted.
Everything sounds good except the 45-foot sign. Dublin started that cr*p — bringing Los Angeles ways to the Tri-Valley. Now Pleasanton is joining in?
I could start by saying “Oh how I long for the days when that stretch of 580 seemed like a drive in the country.” And that would be true, but what difference would it make? This kind of drab development along the freeway has been growing out there for decades. It is unremarkable, cluttered, and has no unifying structure or design, so that people arriving in our area find nothing distinctive about it. Also, one has to question the long stretch of automobile lots along this stretch. Smaller lots to the west are starting to be abandoned for larger ones to the east. It seems terribly wasteful, unless the unused lots are repurposed for something more interesting. Time will tell.
Start making noises about building low income housing in the area and the riff-raff soon follows. I’d much rather see a Benz or BMW sales lot go up, but I guess that’s so yesteryear.
“Leland”…you are soooooooooo silly willy and O V E R!
I enjoy telling the “riff-raff” and this time I’ll make sure that I spread the information all over Oakland and especially churches as they’re CERTAIN to share the Good News! Spanish speaking radio/tv will do a good job spreading the word!
tee hee hee…
“In addition , the company does not use flags, balloons, inflatable gorillas or any other animal, placards in open car hoods, painted window lettering or other similar marketing techniques.”
It’s very disappointing that CarMax and the Pleasanton Planning Commission backed down from their original plans due to pressure from the anti-inflatable gorilla crowd. A blanket ban against any and all African inflatable wildlife strikes me as being an unnecessarily severe restriction. Hopefully, at least some inflatable wildlife of the South American continent will be spared from this thoughtless action.
No doubt the inflatable gorilla idea was nixed due to the dealerships proximity to BART.
Pay no attention to the troll “Right.” He poses as a right-winger in order to get people believing that right-wingers are dumb as a rock.
That is extremely good news. You should check out the city budget to see how large the percentage of our city’s money comes from the car dealerships along 580. If Fairland’s test scores stay as crazy strong as they are, it’s hard to argue that freeway development is blighting our neighborhoods. Fairlands is pretty strong. And these parks cost money.
Sheesh! I make a joke about an inflatable gorillas and apparently the Pleasanton Weekly finds it to be offensive or in poor taste. That’s enough for me. I’m no longer posting on this site. The censors here have gone completely overboard.
Continuation of the new San Frenando Valley-nization of the Tri-Valley. Brought to you by your bought and paid for Chamber of Commerce Councilmembers.
Sam,
You are correct. The PW staff has gone completely overboard on editing posts and deleting posts; especially if they are counter to their liberal politics, the crowd the PW hangs with, or their advertising base (e.g. realtors). Of course, that’s the type of operations we have come to expect from the liberal media.
At least it will give all the local residents a alternative used car source. A alternative that removes the tedious back and forth negotiations and hopefully more transparency.
If censorship helps cut down the posts from all the riff-raff that has been invading my family and our neighbors over recent years, then I’m all for it.
What are people thinking? We know what the BART system has wrought upon us, don’t people realize a pre-owned car emporium will do the same? Why are people so intent to slum it?
Sally go shut down the government. Keep up the good work PW.
Their website shows the hiring page added Pleasanton on 1/12 of this year. So….soon?
http://jobs.carmax.com/jobs/descriptions/business-office-associate-pleasanton-ca-job-6157046
This will be nice to have, I hate the drive to Modesto the few times I saw something I liked in their network.
Any updates on when CarMax is going to open in Pleasanton ?