Frank Bolea has big visions for a future 60,000-square-foot
dealership that has all the stops
Gilroy – The man who helped modernize the Gilroy automotive industry is tripling the size of his operation with a new $16-million dealership, complete with child care services, a community center and a nail salon.
Frank Bolea, owner of Gilroy Toyota, said he envisions his future 60,000-square-foot facility on Chestnut Street as a haven for all Gilroyans, not just those interested in buying cars.
“This new building is going to shock people,” he said. “It will be one of the most gorgeous buildings in Northern California. People will come from hundreds of miles to see it.”
The two-story glass building will rise 35 feet in an open field on the west side of Chestnut Street, facing the city’s automotive hub on Stutz Way. In addition to a nail salon, the 9.5-acre property will house an atrium with barbecue pits, a community room, a Starbucks or another coffee company, three child care areas and a track for test driving cars.
The facility is three times the size of Bolea’s current dealership at the southern tip of Stutz Way, known as Auto Row to local residents. Bolea predicted the new facility would boost average monthly sales from about 160 cars to between 250 and 300.
For years, Gilroy Toyota has topped car sales in the city. When he started Gilroy Toyota in 1988, few car dealerships were open at night or on the weekends. Though many now operate on Saturdays and keep later weeknight hours, none of the city’s dealerships offer repair service throughout the week.
“I came in here with a hot product and started keeping this store open late at night,” Bolea said. “I brought cars to people’s houses, picked cars up from people’s houses, started fixing cars at their houses. I was opened seven days a week for service since 1988. It’s cost me a lot of money to do it, because a lot of times there’s not much business on a Sunday. But it’s paid off – I’ve had a lot of repeat service and few complaints.”
After retail stores and property taxes, the auto industry is the largest generator of revenues for the city. Last year, auto dealerships accounted for more than $2.7 million of the city’s $32 million in tax revenues.
“(The new dealership) gives them an opportunity to expand their business,” said Larry Cope, Gilroy’s economic development director. “When they sell more cars, the sales tax gains for the city go up. That’s the win for the city, plus he’ll be adding employees to sell those cars.”
Competitors are also seeing an upside in the new dealership.
Scott Lynch runs the Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealership on Monterey Street that his father, Bob Lynch, founded in 1968. He said a bigger Toyota dealership will prove a boon not only for residents, but for all of the city’s car dealers.
“The fact that he is enlarging his business only further substantiates the Gilroy dealers as a whole,” Lynch said. “It’s always great to see people grow, even if it’s a competitor, because it draws more people to town.”
Bolea is not your typical car salesman. For years, he has helped local churches, youth groups and other charities with financial contributions and by letting them use his dealership as a meeting place. He said the new facility will offer even greater opportunities to carry on that tradition.
“My son’s Boy Scout group could meet there,” he said. “My daughter’s president of Los Madres (a support group for mothers). They could meet there.”
Bolea, 60, has spent 35 years in the car business. He once owned car dealerships in Illinois, Wisconsin and other parts of California, but he has sold them off over the years. He is financing the new facility in part by selling a 250-acre horse ranch in Lodi, though he plans to keep a horse ranch in Gilroy.
He plans to cut back on the hours and spend more time with his kids, though he still plans to work seven days a week. That has been true since Bolea jumped into the auto business 35 years ago, based on a challenge from a friend who sold cars.
“I used to tease my buddy, ‘Hey if you treat people better, you’d sell a lot more cars,’ ” Bolea recalls telling his friend, a car salesman. “He says, ‘If you could do any better, why don’t you go do it.’ So I went out and sold a car for him one night, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
Bolea hopes to open the new dealership by September 2007.
