Auto mall on track for Arlington Heights

Plans for a new Arlington Heights auto mall -- which would include several dealerships and span 50 acres -- was unanimously approved by the village's plan commission on Wednesday.

The Bob Rohrman Auto Group wants to move the following dealerships to the northwest corner of Dundee Road and Kennicott Avenue in north Arlington Heights: Arlington Lexus, 1285 E. Dundee Road in Palatine; Arlington Dodge in Palatine, 1400 E. Dundee Road in Palatine; and Arlington Chrysler Jeep, 925 W. Dundee Road in Buffalo Grove. Plans also include a spot for another dealership to open sometime in the future.

A new building for Arlington Nissan was approved in 2006, is currently under construction and will open within the next few months. The Nissan dealership was moved from 915 W. Dundee Road in Buffalo Grove.

"This has been a $100 million dollar investment for the Bob Rohrman Auto Group," said Mark Battista, Rohrman's director of governmental affairs. "We're looking at doing $300 million in annual sales."

Arlington Heights gets 1 percent of the total in sales tax, which figures out to be $3 million per year.

The auto mall is expected to employ more than 500 people and have 3,256 parking spaces.

The Lexus dealership will have much more than vehicles, said Paul Batchen, the general manager of the Lexus dealership located in Palatine.

Instead of flipping though magazines in a waiting room, Lexus customers will have access to a café, fitness rooms, massage therapist, multimedia room and even manicurists, Batchen said.

"We're going to take it to the next level," he said. "It will be more like a luxury hotel."

There will also be Lexus cars on display on the second floor of the mostly vacant Honeywell building currently at the site, Battista said.

"It's a trend Harley Davidson started where vehicles are lined up behind glass," he said. "Volvo just did the same thing to their dealership along I-290 and it looks beautiful."

Battista declined to comment on what would open in the Buffalo Grove and Palatine locations once those dealerships move to the proposed Arlington Heights auto mall.

"I really can't disclose that now, but it could be uses outside the auto industry," he said.

While the plan commission unanimously backed the project, the final say rests with the village board, which is slated to vote on the project Nov. 5.

If approved, all the dealerships will open in November 2008, Battista said.