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Gerber Collision & Glass has a building permit to renovate a former lumber store on Highway 99 near the Beltline. It hopes to be open by December.
A chain auto body repair shop plans to open along Highway 99.
Gerber Collision & Glass hopes to open its first Eugene location at 2454 Highway 99 North by December, company construction manager Paul Fashingbauer told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. The site of the facility is just off the four-lane state highway, near McDougal Lane and just south of the Randy Papé Beltline.
The chain, which has about 1,200 locations, is leasing land from Agree Stores, a publicly traded commercial real estate company. This will be Gerber’s 12th location in Oregon; the current nearest is in Albany.
The city issued a building permit for extensive interior, exterior and site work on the 10,630-square-foot building in March, including paving, landscaping and the construction of more than a dozen repair bays, spray and prep booths and office space for ancillary work.
The collision repair equipment is “brand-new” and state-of-the-art, Fashingbauer said. Cost for construction, including new furniture, signs, and equipment, is about $3.5 million, he added.
Gerber also wants to demolish three buildings at the rear of the same property, at 2478, 2484 and 2486 Highway 99 North. The permit application for demolition is under review; Fashingbauer said he expects work to begin within the next few weeks and run through October.
Once open, the auto shop could employ between eight and 10 people, he said.
“We’re in a rapid growth period,” Fashingbauer said. “The Northwest in general has been targeted. The property was a bargain. If you drive by it, you’ll know why. It’s going to be beautiful when it’s done.”
According to state business records, the main property used to be a lumber and hardware sales company. The buildings set for demolition, which were built in the late 1970s and ’80s, used to house a satellite TV company, an auto body shop and an RV parts and service shop.
The existing site currently has “no stormwater management,” according to a management report filed by Gerber last year.
The majority of stormwater drains to an existing swale and structure in the state highway’s right of way, as well as city roads to the north and the west, the plan states. The company plans to capture stormwater from the 1,490 square feet of impervious area expected after construction — less than the existing amount — with a filtration planter, the plan states.
