Republic To Buy Bellevue Dealership

Republic Industries’ Chairman H. Wayne Huizenga - still celebrating his Florida Marlins’ World Series championship - has announced plans to purchase another $250 million worth of car dealerships, including one in the Puget Sound.

Huizenga said his acquisition team had completed negotiations to buy BMW of Bellevue, plus separate automotive groups in Dallas, Atlanta, Southern California. All told, the dealership groups had sales of $1 billion in 1996.

The Bellevue dealership would be Republic’s second in Washington state. In June, Spokane’s Appleway Group announced its sale to Huizenga. That sale became an issue as Republic and Toyota Motor Corp. clashed over how many Toyota dealerships, including Appleway’s, could be acquired. Republic and Toyota announced in August they had settled matters.

If this week’s deals close, Republic would own 199 dealership sites in 17 states.

, DataTimes