According to Rick Wiler, who along with his mother, Joanne Haselwood, own the sprawling automotive complex that encompasses five dealerships with 10 vehicle franchises, what can be seen from the road is only the tip of the iceberg.

Besides the major upgrades at West Hills Honda, what was the former Coca Cola bottling plant will be torn down to make room for a totally new, $12 million facility for Heartland Toyota-Scion. Premier Chrysler-Jeep will then move from its current Auto Center Way location, into what is now the Toyota store after it’s been completely renovated. Total cost of all the new construction and renovations is expected to be nearly $20 million.

Workers from Poe Construction assemble the signature dome which will open onto a skylighted atrium above the vehicle diplay area and will be the focal point of the remodeled and expanded dealership, as well as a landmark.

“We’re really fortunate that Chuck had the vision to acquire all this land and to plan this project carefully and completely, starting 10 years before he built anything,” said Wiler. “He was more of a visionary than most people give him credit for. He understood where the car business was heading in terms of what would be expected as the customer experience, as well as foreseeing and planning for the tremendous growth in sales that has made all of this possible.”

The Haselwood Auto Group, which today employs 347 people, began when Chuck Haselwood was granted the Buick franchise in 1963, after selling used cars as a sideline in his downtown Bremerton gas station. In 2006, the combined dealerships had revenues topping $225 million, selling 4,000 new vehicles and 3,200 used ones.

Rick Wiler of the Haselwood Auto Group shows off new trucks from Toyota and Honda

“The company has mandated that all its dealers will have a signature look that immediately identifies their buildings as Honda dealerships,” explained Wiler. “So addition to doing that, we also took this opportunity to upgrade the facility in a lot of other ways to enhance the customer experience. Whether they’re buying a car or having one serviced, we want it to be the most pleasant experience for the customer that we can possibly make it.”

When completed, the West Hills dealership will look totally different than what previous customers were used to. The principle design element is a rounded main entryway, finished in Honda blue with the chrome Honda logo that will stand taller than the rest of the structure.

There will also be more storefront windows and additional sales area, with a new feature car display highlighted by wall graphics and new lighting. A new information center with special seating, and a new full service coffee shop and seating area are also being added. While waiting, customers will be able to crank up their laptops at new workstations complete with wi-fi, located right off the newly reconfigured service lobby and waiting area. The project also adds a new service pod with improved customer access, enhanced lighting throughout the facility, and refigured finance offices.

There are also five new service bays, and four new delivery bays being added, as well as additional parts storage areas, a new sales staff workroom with personal workstations and lockers, and a new staff conference room with total audio/visual capabilities.

The building design was done by Hecker Architects of Bremerton, while Poe Construction of Puyallup is the general contractor.

Wiler noted that although Poe is from Pierce County, it is the preferred regional contractor for a number of auto manufacturers because of the company’s experience and expertise in automotive dealership design and construction. Poe will also build the Toyota facility.

“It’s definitely a niche that requires certain, specific kinds of experience and know-how,” explained Wiler. “However, we have absolutely insisted that they use local sub-contractors and suppliers whenever and wherever possible. We believe in making every effort possible to spend our money locally at every opportunity.”

Getting the new Toyota dealership project off the ground was a huge undertaking. It required a complicated land swap with Coca Cola and construction of a new, state-of-the-art bottling plant on Auto Center Way, next to the current location of Premier Chrysler-Jeep. Numerous Coca Cola executives flew here from Atlanta to meet with Wiler, and the deal had to be signed off on by what seemed like legions of lawyers.

Wiler says he expects to break ground sometime in late spring or early summer. The new Heartland Toyota will house both the Toyota and Scion brands (Scion is a Toyota nameplate) in a 58,000 square foot facility on the site of the old Coke plant.

Included in the design are 36 service stalls, a dedicated quick-lube area with two stalls and an expanded three-lane service drive.

Inside, customers will find large, inviting display areas for both Toyota and Scion vehicles. They’ll also find a full service coffee bar and latte stand serving complimentary beverages, as well as an expanded customer service waiting area with big-screen plasma TVs, a kids play area, and for the businessperson, a complete business center with workstations and wireless Internet access.

“There is a definite experience we want our customers to have — one that they won’t get anywhere else,” said Wiler. “We want them to feel as if they’ve been invited into our home.”

The new Toyota facility will comply with the recently adopted Toyota Image USA design standards, to which all dealerships nationwide are either being built or renovated to meet. According to Wiler, the idea behind the program is to provide an industry leading facility that will accommodate future sales and service growth, benchmark levels of customer satisfaction and improve operational dealership efficiencies. “We believe this facility will help support our long term plans to meet growing capacity needs while providing a professional and proficient environment in which our associates can excel,” stated Wiler.

Once the new dealership is complete, the existing Heartland facility will be completely renovated to accommodate Premier Chrysler-Jeep.

There is also a major realignment of West Hills Boulevard planned that will gently wind through all of the Haselwood dealerships, with, wide, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and landscaping framing both sides.

Once Premier moves, there will only be four new car dealerships left at Auto Center, which once housed almost all of the county’s major auto dealers.

Wiler said there are no immediate plans to bring any other automotive brands to the West Hills Autoplex, but that he wasn’t ruling our future expansion either. He said he felt this market could possibly support some additional, upscale brands not here presently, and that he was planning to be able to accommodate them if and when the time came. But in the meantime, he intended to focus on growing sales for the brands the Haselwood Auto Group has in its current stable. “These facilities will provide us with the opportunity to better service our Honda and Toyota customers through increased capacity,” commented Wiler. He then broke into a big grin and added, “But what we are really striving for, are ways to’impress,’ ‘pamper,’ and just plain ‘wow’ our customers beyond their expectations.”.