Steakley Chevrolet auto

The Steakley Chevrolet auto dealership at the northwest corner of Northwest Highway and Abrams closed in early 2008, and the 13-acre site has sat barren ever since, except for the Dallas Furniture Mart, which took up occupancy in the former showroom in 2010. At the time, with Timbercreek Crossing in progress nearby and Medallion Center going strong just across the street, no one expected the site to be vacant for long, with experts saying the site was prime for retail redevelopment. That was before the recession hit, however.

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Steakley Chevrolet availableMore than six years later, the site finally may be turning over. A recent conversation with a Dallas Furniture Mart employee revealed that the store has been given until August to vacate. Ryan Johnson of SRS Real Estate Partners has been subleasing the property for AutoNation, which had hoped to find someone to redevelop the property as a retail center, but says “our listing with the former tenant on the site is up at the end of this month and we will not have any more involvement.”

A “for lease” sign from Leon Capital went up on the property a few months ago, but real estate broker Rob Solls says Leon is working only on the 15,000-sqaure-foot hard corner.

“I get more calls on that sign than anything,” Solls says. He’s in discussion with a “small national freestanding retail opportunity that we’re vetting” but doesn’t know what’s happening with the rest of the property, which is owned by a family in Washington, D.C. “We’d love to put the whole thing together. It’s one of the best sites in the market, I think. There’s tons of potential. Hopefully we’ll get to see some retail there.”

Johnson likewise says “we wish we knew [the landowners’] plans but we are in the dark.” A call to the property owner, identified by Dallas County Appraisal District as Wood Stone Corporation, yielded no information.

A recent story from the DMN’s Steve Brown about the Sam’s Club near CityPlace notes near the end that “competitor Costco has been looking at locations, too, including the old Steakley Chevrolet property on Northwest Highway.” We have a call into Costco trying to find out more information.

As long ago as 2009, we speculated that the site would be ideal for Costco, but at the time, neither Costco nor anyone else was biting. Is now the opportune time?