While Toyota, Holden, Jeep, Subaru, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Nissan and Honda dealerships have all set up home on the Mitchell Highway, the city’s newest car yard is destined for a location at the other end of town: on the Sydney Road at Kelso.

A development application has been lodged with Bathurst Regional Council for a $3.7 million motor showroom and signage on a vacant tract of land just up from Pat O’Leary Drive, virtually opposite the driveway to Devro.

It will be the end of an era for Clancy Motors, which has traded at its Howick Street headquarters right in the central business district for nearly six decades.

These days the dealership features makes such as Ford, Mitsubishi, Kia and Isuzu.

The Howick Street site, however, is landlocked and offers no room for expansion.

It is also one of the last major tracts of land in the central business district, making it a prime piece of real estate.

Clancy Motors’ dealer principal Michael Pentecost yesterday said they were excited by the prospect of making the move as it would enable them to consolidate their operations on the one site.

“At present we are scattered around three different locations,” he said. 

“The group purchased the Sydney Road site about four years ago with the intention of going ahead with this development, but the plans were put on hold pending the RMS roadworks in that area.

“Now that it’s going ahead, so are we. At this stage, depending on clearance from the RMS and council, we anticipate starting work within the next 90 days.”

Mr Pentecost said the $3.7 million development on the 13,000 square metre site showed real confidence in the Bathurst economy.

“This gives us lots of space to put together an impressive development compared to what we operate out of today, including a run-down converted service station,” he said.

“The new premises will be state- of-the-art, and from a staff viewpoint will be much more user and environmentally friendly.”