Taylor & Sons Chevrolet set for May opening

SANDPOINT — When Jack Parker and Greg Taylor formed Taylor-Parker Motor Co. in 1988, they were continuing a downtown business tradition that had been around since the Model A Ford and the Chevrolet Six. That same year, Greg and Laurel Taylor licensed the name Taylor & Sons with an eye toward the future and a succession plan in mind.

The future is now, as it turns out, and the local employer rolls into 2011 with the banner of its new name unfurled as of Jan. 1, and a new Hwy. 95 North location just months away from completion.

Economic Reality

The decision to move Taylor & Sons Chevrolet from Cedar Street to a 3-plus-acre lot north of town was not so much chosen by the family as it was mandated by a convergence of macro-economic forces and sweeping changes in the automotive industry. 

That reality was made painfully apparent starting in 2008, when the federal government began what ended up as a $25 billion safety net to pull financially troubled automakers back from the brink under the umbrella of an overall, $700 billion stimulus plan.

Under the agreement, the companies were required to streamline the number of brands they produced and severely tighten their dealer structures, consolidating some service regions and walking away from many of the small towns they had served in the past.  In the midst of that restructuring, Taylor-Parker lost its Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealerships and even its mainstay Chevrolet brand was in question for a time.

In the end, Chevrolet gave the nod to Sandpoint as its hub for a larger franchise agreement covering a wider “area of primary responsibility.” With that good news, however, came G.M.’s updated requirements for the physical facilities that would best promote the brand to a new century of vehicle buyers. 

And while the 2-acre lot in downtown Sandpoint had been in constant use for more than 80 years and seen a few major renovations over that time, it was clear that what G.M. had in mind went far beyond what the existing facility could provide.

Changing Times

The Chevrolet emblem has hung in the window of the dealership on Cedar Street since 1929, but had its start a couple years earlier just about a block away.

“It actually started in 1927 when Jack’s dad, O.B. Parker, opened the business down the street at what is now Vanderford’s,” Greg Taylor said.

At that time, Mr. Parker built what was a modern showroom and service area designed to work on the popular vehicles of the day – primarily cars such as the best-selling Chevrolet Series AC International, which started at $595 and, for a time, outsold Ford’s iconic Model A.

The same downtown service area now seems like a kind of automotive history museum, as it was built when the average vehicle measured about 10-12 feet in length, compared with 15-18 feet for many contemporary trucks and SUVs.  With its small door and original lifts, the Chevrolet dealership’s service people found themselves working with the latest technology in what had become a very outdated physical environment.

“It was built at a time when cars weren’t as long,” said Brett Taylor, as general manager, now is responsible for many of the day-to-day aspects of operations of a business he virtually grew up in.  “Now it takes a seven- or eight-point turn and a jack to get the newer vehicles onto the lifts.”

If those same vehicles were pulled into the shop on a wintry day, the technicians were forced to do their jobs under a constant assault of melting slush dripping from underneath the vehicle.  None of which was lost on G.M., which had a very different vision of what its dealers would have to look like going forward.

“In order to meet their facility requirements under the franchise renewal, we realized it would be too cost-prohibitive to try to stay at this location,” Greg Taylor said.  “We just couldn’t operate out of this building any more.”

New Beginning

Imagine living in the same, small home with several generations of a growing family and you get a sense of what Taylor & Sons faced when it came time to make a move to larger digs.  Leaving the old place is hard, but, with the move, there is an opportunity to update all of those key features and add amenities that were lacking in the previous setting.

For the past few years, Greg Taylor has been visiting dealerships in other parts of the country to witness best practices and gather state-of-the-art design ideas for the Taylor & Sons Chevrolet location now in the final stages of construction in Ponderay. He took his punch list to area architects Kris Contor and Rob Stoicheff in the fall of 2009 and moved their subsequent design into the construction phase last summer.

The blueprint Contor and Stoicheff came up with incorporates the best of what the owner saw on the road, along with several innovations of his own.  Most important, the design meets and exceeds what G.M. refers to as “customer-facing requirements” — the look, feel and high levels of comfort and efficiency that now come with selling the brand.

The new experience will start when customers pull up to the service area, where sensors in the asphalt outside open doors to a hydronically heated “service write-up” department.  The service order is entered digitally, with information transmitted directly to technicians. 

“The whole diagnostic process happens in the comfort of a heated drive-in area, as opposed to having to walk out in the five-degree weather,” Brett Taylor explained.

“And when you pull in here with a snow-covered car, it will be completely dry by the time you pull out again,” his father said.

For service jobs that have a quick turnaround, a stroll from the write-up desk to the adjacent customer lounge features a cozy fireplace, large-screen TV, wireless Internet access and a computer station for customer use.  In the same area, an enclosed children’s play room will be stocked with games and toys and monitored by security cameras, allowing parents and staff to keep an eye and ear on youngsters, even while finalizing a vehicle purchase.

The tiled showroom will provide space for four to five vehicles, with west-facing windows that open out onto a view of the ski runs at Schweitzer and a new sales lot designed to display more than 150 vehicles – a 20 percent increase compared with the downtown lot.

From the showroom to the service bays, the new facility will be bathed in natural light, part of what the Taylors consider to be the most critical design element of all.

Building Green

From the start, the new Taylor & Sons Chevrolet site was designed with energy efficiency and environmental friendliness in mind, the owners said. 

At the marquee-style entrance to the showroom, LED lights deliver the company logo, while vehicles outside are illuminated with the latest generation of lot lighting, featuring fewer light elements that cover more area and use far less energy than traditional means.

Wise window placement not only maximizes views, but also works in tandem with skylights sprinkled throughout the 22,000-square-foot building to lower energy consumption.  The largest windows, those in the showroom, are tinted and the HVAC system is designed to keep the area at a consistent temperature, with a maximum of 73 degrees on even the hottest summer days in direct afternoon sunlight.

The most noticeable changes are taking place in the service area, where 13 bays will be outfitted with in-ground hoists that are fully encased to prevent pollution from leaks.  At 16 feet, the ceiling in the shop is nearly twice as tall as the existing building, leaving room for three mezzanine spaces and additional areas for things such as special tools and bulk storage of fluids and lubricants. 

“The number of service bays is basically the same, but it’s the efficiencies that we really pick up,” Greg Taylor said.

Vehicles entering the service department will roll in through the same type of sensored doors and onto another hydronically heated floor area fueled by a pair of 350,000-BTU boilers that use waste oil from daily operations, with diesel backup as needed.  For the first time, all technicians will be in the same area – a soundproofed environment that keeps the customer lounge and sales area completely removed from the clatter of power tools at work.

Unlike the downtown location, the new shop is wired for high-speed Internet — a must due to the complex technology in new vehicles, which now can undergo software updates while they are on the lift for other types of service. Year-round, the temperature in the service department is designed to fluctuate no more than a couple degrees on the hottest or coldest days.

Overall, the Taylors anticipate savings of 36-42 percent on energy consumption alone at the new site. Those savings, and the use of regional materials and recycled content, occupancy controlled lighting, low-emitting construction materials, landscaping and efficient storm water drainage, set the business up to earn sought-after Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)certification — an internationally recognized green building process that involves third-party verification and certification in order to clear the bar. 

 “There are fewer than 20 dealerships in the U.S. with LEED certification and we’re doing everything possible to achieve that because it coordinates with where Chevrolet is going in the area of environmental stewardship,” Brett Taylor said.

“Taylor & Sons would be the first dealership in Idaho to earn that certification,” his father added.

Although the new Volt electric car won’t be available in Idaho for at least a year, the Taylor & Sons Chevrolet site will be wired with Volt charging stations to be ready for that new chapter in automotive history.

Thinking Local

When the automotive sales game moved north of town in the 1980s, Taylor-Parker Motor Company remodeled its facility and stayed put downtown. When the Big Three auto companies reshuffled the deck in 2008 and remapped the national dealer networks, the Taylors managed to keep all of their employees, despite the loss of the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep lines.

Now, as the new location approaches its anticipated April 2011 completion and May grand opening, the project crosses the finish line with the help of 52 subcontractors, the majority of which have a local business address.

“We made sure that all the local subs who put in a bid got the job,” said Greg Taylor, reciting a list of trades people that reads like a Who’s-Who of the Bonner County construction industry.

“Our boys grew up here,” said Laurel Taylor, an active leader in the local arts community who, along with husband Greg and sons Brett and Chad, makes up the officers and directors of the corporation.  “Our family has been here since 1988, so we’re always looking for ways to give back to the community.”

“This project is something we see as an investment in the community,” said Brett, who added that the family business plans to bring on additional employees in the sales and service departments if the new location performs as expected.

According to Greg Taylor, the 2-acre Cedar Street site — which he said represents the largest piece of commercial property in downtown Sandpoint — will be listed for sale soon. He said several parties have expressed interest in the land and buildings.

For more information on the LEED-certified construction techniques being used on the project, along with photos of every phase of construction from the groundbreaking on, Google “Taylor & Sons Chevrolet” and click on the company’s Facebook page.