Keenan Motors Looking to Move

The north end of Doylestown might be in for some changes on the business front, as Doylestown Lumber & Millwork Co., Keenan Motors and Keenan Honda discuss shuffling their locations.

The swap is being driven by Keenan Motors' need to move out of its opulent headquarters on E. Swamp Road, which was notably showcased in a Food Network "Behind the Bash" episode with Giada de Laurentiis in 2006.

Though it's probably one of the most beautiful car dealerships around, it doesn't reflect the sleek, contemporary look for which Mercedes Benz is aiming.

Mercedes-Benz is requiring all its dealerships to update their facilities in keeping with design standards set by the German car company, according to Jim Peruto of Keenan Motor Group. Mercedes is promoting a sleek, contemporary look, with lots of glass and steel beams, Peruto said.

“They have very exacting requirements,” he said.

The idea of shuffling locations is still in the early stages. The business owners involved, along with attorney John VanLuvanee, recently appeared before Buckingham Township Supervisors to outline their ideas and garner support.

“We’re not talking about a plan; we’re talking about a concept,” VanLuvanee said.

Doylestown Lumber, owned by Tom Kardish, is the only business of the trio located in Buckingham. The two car dealerships are in Plumstead Township.

VanLuvanee said they had a similar “get acquainted” meeting with Plumstead officials and were received favorably.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Mercedes-Benz dealership moved from North Easton Road, near the other car dealerships, to the Cross Keys site.

The 5-year-old building, a large, opulent structure accented with tall columns along the front, is on Swamp Road near North Easton Road. It also serves as a venue for various charitable galas, including the recent annual dinner.

Peruto said the company looked into making the major renovations that would be needed to transform the building to meet Mercedes’ demands, but the cost would be “totally unfeasible."

Since Doylestown Lumber was looking to downsize its operations, and its 6-acre property on North Easton Road is adjacent to the Mercedes-Benz dealer, the idea took hold to build a new Mercedes facility there. Peruto said it would be about half the size of its current structure.

The proposal calls for Keenan Honda, now further north on North Easton Road near the other car dealerships, to then move into Keenan’s current Mercedes-Benz facility.

Doylestown Lumber, which plans to expand its retail business, would then relocate to an unused building next to the Honda location.

The Honda building would then be unoccupied.

Kardish said the move would be beneficial to Doylestown Lumber, streamlining its operations and bringing them together under one roof.

“The opportunity, for us, is to essentially create a state-of-the-art millwork, home center and showroom,” Kardish said. It would still cater to professional tradesmen but the changes would expand its customer base to include more do-it-yourself homeowners.

The officials discussed traffic and stormwater management issues.

Peruto said having the two car dealerships on adjoining properties would allow them to create a loop for traffic on the property, which would ease congestion created by car deliveries.

“Right now, we have some cars that are unloaded right along 313,” he said, because delivery drivers have trouble getting in and out of driveways. An internal loop should alleviate that, he said.

Buckingham supervisors encouraged the group to draw up preliminary sketch plans for the township’s zoning hearing board to review to ensure all issues are formally addressed.