Priority Real Estate Group’s Vice President of Engineering Curtis Neufeld (center) discusses Tucker Chevrolet’s plan to relocate from Waldoboro to Wiscasset with the Wiscasset Planning Board during a meeting the evening of Dec. 23. The dealership will be located at 771 Bath Road, opposite Norm’s Used Cars. (Piper Pavelich photo)
A car dealership familiar to those in Waldoboro is one step closer to making its way south to its new home in Wiscasset.
Tucker Chevrolet will relocate from 1340 Atlantic Highway in Waldoboro to 771 Bath Road in Wiscasset, opposite Norm’s Used Cars.
The dealership’s site plan application was approved by the Wiscasset Planning Board during a meeting on Dec. 23, over a year after the town was first informed of the proposed project.
Priority Real Estate Group Vice President of Engineering Curtis Neufeld has been communicating with the town in regard to the dealership’s application on behalf of Tucker Chevrolet Inc. Other notable projects the Topsham real estate company has worked on in Wiscasset include First Federal Savings Bank, Nouria Lil Mart, and Napa Auto Parts.
Tucker Cianchette, owner of Tucker Chevrolet Inc., opened Tucker Chevrolet in Waldoboro in Sept. 2016. Cianchette said he has been on the lookout for potential sites to relocate the dealership to for the last few years. He currently leases the space in Waldoboro.
“We’ve grown and busted at the seams. We’re constrained on our room and our parking,” he said. “It’s been great, (the building) served its purpose, but the gig is up.”
Cianchette said he was simply looking for a sufficient piece of land in the area to expand the dealership on, and he found it in Wiscasset. Tucker Chevrolet’s market area, or geographic region where most customers come from, spans from Waldoboro to Wiscasset, he said.
The plan is to construct a 20,128-square-foot dealership and maintenance center that will be accessible by a single driveway, which will be moved slightly north from the site’s existing driveway. A small house currently sits on the property, but will be demolished prior to construction, said Neufeld.
Over 300 vehicles will be displayed at the dealership, according to the site plan application. Parking will surround the dealership, with parking lots at the front, sides, and back of the development. The majority of parking for customers and vehicle inventory will be located to the side and back of the building.
Cianchette said “in a perfect world,” construction will begin in the spring and the dealership will be ready to open in a year or so; however, there are many “intricate moving parts,” so there is not a finalized construction timeline yet.
The budget for the project is about $9.4 million, according to the site plan application.
Tucker Chevrolet Inc. is currently in the process of obtaining a Site Location of Development Act permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to ensure the management of stormwater and water quality at the site. Neufeld said he expects Tucker Chevrolet Inc. will receive the permit in mid- to late-January.
The Waldoboro location will close and the Wiscasset location will open concurrently, Cianchette said.
