Mitsubishi North America's CEO Visits Richfield

Yoichi Yokozawa was in Richfield Monday. 

The president and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America spoke at the groundbreaking for the new Richfield Bloomington Mitsubishi dealership, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported. 

"We are very excited about this store because we see great potential for growth," Yokozawa said, according to bizjournals.com/twincities. "They can easily double or even triple their sales."

As Richfield Patch reported in June, managing owner Tim Carter said the goal of the project was to create a spot that fit within Richfield's "small town in the big city" feel.

"We want to emulate that [feel]," Carter said. "We want to be a state-of-the-art facility, and we want to have park benches. We want to have beautiful shade trees."       

Richfield-Bloomington Honda, located just west of Lyndale Avenue on 77th Street West, began its expansion efforts last year, acquiring the adjacent properties that housed LaMettry's Auto Body, USA Baby and Tires Plus. La Mettry's is relocating to a parcel of land north of Candlewood Suites, which was previously owned by the city until it was purchased last summer. 

The project will feature a brand new Richfield-Bloomington Honda and a new Mitsubishi dealership. The Mitsubishi dealership will occupy about one-third of the total lot. Both dealerships will be two stories pulled to 77th Street.

According to project plans, the walls facing 77th Street will include a significant amount of glass to allow visibility inside the dealerships. In addition, the south side of the Honda building will have a second story, cantilevered mezzanine for vehicle display on I-494. Harriet Avenue will become a private boulevard between the two dealerships, featuring park benches, shade trees, pedestrian-scale lighting and recessed parking bays for additional vehicle displays.

The dealership expects to move from its current Bloomington location to Richfield this December. Construction on the Honda dealership is set to begin in February 2014 with the new store opening in January 2015.

Related at Richfield Patch: 

• Richfield Bloomington Mitsubishi
• Final Honda Expansion Items on Council Docket
• Honda Receives Final Redevelopment Approvals
• HRA Approves Land Sale to LaMettry's
• LaMettry's Relocation Project Moving Forward