BY MORGAN LEGEL
Journal Staff

Herring

Atkins Kroll Inc. is set to begin construction for the Toyota showroom on Nov. 1. The 7,300 square-foot, $2.7 million renovation will be comprised of updating and creating a five-car showroom, management office, sales support areas, a new customer lounge café, restrooms, a dedicated new car delivery suite and exterior improvements.

Wendi J. Herring, president of Atkins Kroll, said the construction will come in phases, beginning with the south side of the building in November. The other phases will stretch between January and July 2022, with business remaining open during that time.

“We need to continue to operate through the construction and renovation,” she said. “We are just going to block off sections so we can continue everything.”

Once finished, the exterior of the building will be retrofitted with aluminum cladding and signage to match the latest Toyota brand standards, Herring said.

The existing southern entrance will be overhauled and widened to facilitate easier traffic entry and exit.

“It’s not an expansion, we’re just doing the upgrades to make it a better experience for our customers,” she said.

 Neil Paynter, principal architect, Ari Partners Architecture PC, will take the lead on the project. A construction contract has also been awarded to JWG Construction LLC, with material suppliers sourced from Europe and Asia.

As of publishing, the AK Distribution Center is the only Toyota construction project currently underway. Construction began early summer of 2021.
Photo by Morgan Legel

As part of the overhaul, the Toyota Customer Service Center is also being renovated, with a price tag of approximately $500,000. The existing customer check-in lounge, Toyota Rent-A-Car, Customer Service restroom, and service administration offices are all being refitted with custom manufactured joinery, new floors, ceilings, lighting and furniture, according to Herring.

While this project is included in the overhaul, it is still in the planning stages and construction has not begun.

“Final contract details are being finalized with an expected completion in line with the new AK Distribution Center, and completion of Phase 2 of the AK Showroom Renovation, in March of 2022,” Herring said.

The ultimate goal, she said, is to complete all renovations by July 2022.

As far as the new warehouse — the AK Distribution Center — it will be a 15,600 square foot mixed-use storage and business center. The project has begun from scratch and is the only new-construction building.

Contracts have been awarded to Leading Tech LLC for general construction; Smithbridge Guam for precast concrete supply and erection; and Pelican Pacific for the structural steel package for composite suspended floor and roof deck.

The structure will be two stories, with spaces for parts sales, parts administration support, a parts warehouse with an automatic racking system and integrated elevator, vehicle service dispatch, technician restrooms, a receiving and loading dock and high-value storage. Overall, the build is estimated to cost $6.6 million.

While the plan is to have this finished by March 2022, coordinating with part of the showroom renovation completion, construction on this began earlier in the summer, and has also been done in phases.

“There’s a lot going on here,” Herring said. mbj