Mini dealership work to begin

Construction will begin this month on a 10,000-square-foot building in south Reno that will serve as the home of the Mini of Reno auto dealership.

The facility will be part of the Bill Pearce Motors dealership complex at 11555 S. Virginia St.

Panattoni Construction will be general contractor on the project designed by H+K Architects of Reno. Completion is expected in early spring.

Matthew Meyer, who will become general manager of Mini of Reno, said the building on the northwest side of the Bill Pearce Motors property will be one of the first developed with Mini's new prototype design for dealership facilities.

Included will be a second-floor "jewelry box" a glass box that extends out from the building to allow display of a Mini vehicle.

The dealership will employ about 15 people, Meyer said. Along with sales and office space, the building will include a four-bay service department and a parts department.

It will share some functions information technology and telephones, for example with the BMW, Porsche and Volvo dealerships that Bill Pearce Motors operates on the south Reno campus.

The new dealership will open with some advantages. Buyers already are on a waiting list, Meyer said, and about 350 Mini automobiles already on the streets in the Reno-Sparks area provide a base for its service business.

The nearest Mini dealership currently is in Sacramento.

Meyer said the new dealership expects to get a further boost from Mini's planned introduction of an all-wheel-drive model late this year.

Bill Pearce Motors also has been keeping interest alive with a Web site, miniiscoming.com, that details progress on the new dealership.

Bill Pearce Motors won the Mini dealership in mid-2009 after seven-year campaign that began not long after BMW Group introduced the brand into north American markets.