Add Porsche to the list of luxury automobile dealerships who have signed on for a spot in The Collection.
Council heard a presentation at their meeting last week (June 17) for the construction of a two-storey, 40,000-square-foot building, proposed for the northeast corner of the high-end auto mall.
The building will include parking for 66 inventory vehicles on the roof, while the showroom will front onto the Bypass.
Following the presentation by Doug Steele of Kasian Architecture and Design, Councillor Dave Hall asked whether any consideration had been given to improving pedestrian access between The Collection and the Mercedes dealership currently under construction on the opposite side of the Langley Bypass.
City planner Gerald Minchuk replied that based on the experiences of Christian Chia, head of Open Road Auto Group which owns the BMW-Mini Dealership at The Collection, there is no benefit to a pedestrian overpass.
When people are shopping for a new car, they tend to drive their own vehicle as a potential trade-in, and therefore want to keep it close by, Minchuk noted.
“A pedestrian-oriented City is something we’re working toward and it should be considered.”
When the design for The Collection was first presented to Council several years ago, it called for a mix of commercial retail and office space along the eastern edge of the development.
A Porsche dealership will be “an exciting tradeoff” for that aspect of the development, said Steele.
The public was invited to weigh in on the introduction of a Porsche dealership to the luxury auto mall. The City received one piece of correspondence, indicating concern that the project’s frontage is no longer consistent with its original design concept.
