Findlay Automotive Group, a Las Vegas-based car-dealership chain, plans to build a Hyundai dealership in Post Falls and might develop a couple of additional new-car outlets in the Inland Northwest in the future.


The planned Post Falls dealership, being called Findlay Hyundai for now, is slated to be built on a 3 1/2-acre site at the southwest corner of Polston Avenue and Alberta Street, just north of Interstate 90, says Justin Paine, senior project manager at Spokane-based Walker Construction Inc., which is constructing the 18,000-square-foot facility.


Paine says Walker is starting site work this week and expects to break ground on the $2.7 million structure in coming weeks.


John Cole, who will be the general manager and a part owner of Findlay Hyundai, says the dealership building is expected to be completed in January. The dealership will have 35 employees to start, he says.


In addition to new Hyundai cars, the dealership will carry an extensive selection of used cars, Cole says.


That will be a strong market for used cars, if our market research is correct, he says.


Cole, who currently manages a Honda dealership operated by the Findlay group in Kingman, Ariz., says he and dealership owner Cliff Findlay are forming a limited-liability corporation to own the planned Post Falls operation. He says they might change the name of the planned dealership before it opens to avoid confusion, since the Findlay group already operates a Findlay Hyundai dealership in St. George, Utah.


The group intends to develop a couple of additional dealerships here in the coming years, but hasnt identified any other locations or decided on other lines of new cars that it would look to offer in the Inland Northwest, Cole says.


Findlay Automotive Group currently operates 16 dealerships in Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, and has three others under construction in those states. In addition to Honda and Hyundai, the complexes sell vehicles made by Toyota, Saab, Volkswagen, and General Motors.


Cole says the automotive group decided to develop dealerships here after Findlay came to Coeur dAlene on vacation and ended up buying a home in the upscale Black Rock development, overlooking Lake Coeur dAlene.


Contact Linn Parish at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at linnp@spokanejournal.com.