Business First
Lexus dealership to open on Blankenbaker next month
June 29, 2007

Sam Swope Auto Group LLC’s new Lexus of Louisville dealership is slated to open in late July at 2400 Blankenbaker Parkway. Sam Swope Auto Group President and CEO Dick Swope said the company anticipates having at least three additional dealerships there, though he is uncertain what they will be. “It depends on what opportunities come along, really,” he said. The 50,000-square-foot dealership will have a 32-bay service department, which will recycle waste oil from oil changes, collecting and storing it in a reservoir to burn during winter months. Wireless Internet access will be available in the customer lounge, in addition to a children’s playroom, a plasma-screen TV, a fireplace and a golf simulator, where customers can practice their game using real clubs on an Astroturf floor. Swope declined to disclose the cost of the new dealership. Construction began last September on the dealership, which is 40 percent larger than the current Lexus of Louisville dealership, located on Bunsen Parkway near Hurstbourne Parkway, said Sean Mattingly, president of Robert Mattingly & Sons, the project manager for the dealership. Swope said the current home to Lexus of Louisville will be entirely renovated and a new BMW dealership is planned to open there by year’s end. Tucker, Booker, Donhoff & Partners served as architects for the project, and QK4 worked as engineers.