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Luxury auto dealer C.J. Wilson turned dirt Wednesday for the groundbreaking of the future home of three luxury auto showrooms in Clovis off Clovis Avenue between Herndon and Sierra avenues on 15 acres.

“This new facility that we’re building for our three brands — BMW, Audi and Porsche — it’s going to be state of the art,” Wilson said. “We’re going to have brand new designs, brand new facilities; it’s going to be amazing.”

Once finished, the dealership will double its lift capacity from around 30 to 60, expanding client service as well as the service department itself. Customer amenities will include a coffee shop stocked with Chef Vatche Moukhtarian’s very own Sanctuary Coffee. The dealership’s expansion will not only fill the needs of clientele, but also the branding desires for the three luxury German automotive giants.

 

“As a franchise owner, I have to uphold the standards of those brands, and it is extremely challenging,” he said. “The facilities that we are in right now just aren’t up to those standards, realistically.”

The dealerships are currently located in the area of Palm and Herndon avenues in Fresno with other luxury dealers.

The new dealerships will be built by Legacy Construction.

The undertaking is not going to be a minor one; Wilson said that while the dollar amount will fluctuate due to the length and complexity of the project, the dealership is making a sizable investment.

“I would say that all of the profitability of the store over the last ten years — eight years since I’ve owned it — and the next five or six are going into this construction project,” Wilson said. “It’s hard to really describe.”

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See the Friday, May 30 print edition of The Business Journal for more information about this story.