Don Weir is no stranger to car sales. The owner of Reno Dodge has been looking to lock down a second location for more than three years, and he found his spot on the east side of Fernley. 3.5 acres on East Newlands Road will be the site of his new 15,000 square-foot dealership.
"It's something that I've been looking for for years, to build a new facility from the ground up," Weir said.
Fernley has a population of 20,000 and has never had a new car dealership. Once it is completed, the business will sell Dodge, Ram, Jeep, and Chrysler. Weir had been negotiating with Chrysler on a new location for more than three years. The auto-maker wanted to find a location in Fallon but Weir convinced them that Fernley was the best option.
"Going out there, I just felt Fernley would have been a better location for it, since you have the I-80 corridor there and we can get all that business coming from northern Nevada, from Winnemucca, Elko, that area," Weir said.
Daphne Hooper is Fernley's City Manager. She says Fernley is still trying to fully recover from the recession, and more companies are looking at the town to do business. The addition of employees is good news for Fernley's economic growth.
"It's a positive sign for recovery," Hooper said. "So, it's nice to see people wanting to invest and believe that Fernley has the ability to grow. So, we're excited about that."
During the economic downturn, Lyon County had one of the highest unemployment rates in the United States. For years, the residents have relied on Reno and Sparks for employment and shopping. Hooper says the addition of new companies is curbing that reliance.
"We've been kind of the bedroom community of the metropolitan area," Hooper said. "So, this will allow people to work in the community that they live and leave the dollars in our city."
Weir expects to hire 30-35 people to work at his dealership, and service and parts department. He hopes most of them will be Fernley residents.
"That's what I wanted to do, try to get all the local people over there involved in the store and get as many employees as I can from that area," Weir said.
Weir was looking at Fernley as his next location before Tesla and SWITCH announced their moves to northern Nevada. While that was not anticipated, he says that only helps his business because of Fernley's expected growth. City leaders say their population could double, but they expect it to exceed 30,000 in the coming years. The economic and population growth is helping to revive the community.
"We're seeing some of those subdivisions that were once defunct, starting to come back to life and people are starting to look for places to live and places to work," Hooper said.
2015 was a record year for car sales in the U.S. Reno Dodge had its best year since 2007, and Weir says the timing couldn't be any better for his Fernley dealership.
"We're looking forward to a huge year," Weir said. "All the forecasters say '16 is going to be a great automobile sales year."
Weir is optimistic his Fernley car lot will be open by Memorial Day, just in time for the summer sales season.
