Cronin Dodge Closing: Retail Planned on Site
By John Eckberg, The Cincinnati Enquirer - Friday, November 30, 2007

BRIDGETOWN - Cronin Dodge will close Monday, and plans call for the 3.5-acre site to become a retail center that includes two restaurants - one a family-style national chain.

Cars have been sold on the site for 60 years, with Patrick Cronin selling as Cronin Dodge since May 2004, when he bought the franchise and property for $1.8 million. It had been operated for the preceding quarter-century as Clyde Wullenweber Dodge.

Cronin said the decision was made to sell the property at 6475 Glenway Ave. to DW Real Estate Holdings, led by partner Bill Davin and Al Wallander, because a new-car dealership was no longer feasible, particularly compared to the value of the site for another use.


"It's an older facility and rather than try to renovate it, we received an offer that was acceptable for redevelopment," Cronin said.

It will remain a used-car lot until zoning issues are resolved and work begins on construction of the new complex next year.

Purchase price was not disclosed, but Wallander projected that land valuation and site improvements will cost more than $3 million - about $1 million an acre.

"Three acres of land does not become available on Glenway Avenue very often," Wallander said. "In fact, I can't recall in recent memory the last time a parcel like this came onto the market."

The property already is zoned for retail use, but the density of the project means the developers must seek planned-unit development permission from Green Township and the Hamilton County Rural Zoning Commission in December.

Construction is expected to begin in February, with retailers opening in the fall of 2008.

The new development will have a stand-alone restaurant that will open by 2009, as well as a single-story retail complex that could also include a restaurant. The family sit-down restaurant will be in a building of about 7,000 square feet. The multi-tenant building will be about 10,000 square feet.

Wallander said he has a letter of intent from the national restaurant chain, but would not name that company until the deal was closed.

David Metz at NAI Bergman brokered the deal for the site and is the listing broker for the proposed development.

The lot already has been largely cleared of new cars and trucks, although more used-car inventory will arrive soon.

Cronin said the dealership had employed 20 and that most if not all of those workers have found other employment or were being transferred to Cronin Ford in Harrison.

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