Site near airport changes hands

Meissner Chevrolet has sold its 12-acre complex at 70th Street and Essington Avenue near Philadelphia International Airport for $9.5 million, for use as Enterprise Rent-A-Car's new regional headquarters.

"That's a strong price, and it's a positive thing for the [airport] neighborhood," said Joe Alymer, a consultant to the Philadelphia Industrial Development Authority.

The authority sold the site, a former dump, to the Meissner family 20 years ago for $655,000. The dealership stabilized and paved the site and built a 50,000-square- foot showroom and shop.

Enterprise plans to create or relocate 50 to 60 jobs there after refurbishing the buildings, said Doug Meissner, who owns the dealership with his brother David.

"They're bringing in jobs from outside the city, from Jeffersonville and other operations," said Patrick Green, executive vice president at commercial Realtor CB Richard Ellis, who represented the Meissners in the sale.

Enterprise last year acquired the Alamo and National rental chains and is combining and centralizing some functions. Ned Maniscalco, an Enterprise public relations manager, said no Alamo or National offices are being closed as a result of the consolidation.

The Meissner brothers said they had agreed to sell their dealership to Horsham-based Chapman Auto Group. "They'll pick up most of the employees," Doug Meissner said. Employment includes 70 full-time and part-time workers; the dealership employed twice that number in its peak years.

"We expect we'll get approval from General Motors in the next week or two," said Rich Harrisson, who has been tapped as the head of newly organized Chapman Chevrolet. "We've talked to all their employees, and a good chunk have said they want to join Chapman. They have some good, experienced people."

The addition of Enterprise and the retention of a Chevy dealership reinforces the four-wheel character of business along that stretch of Essington Avenue, where new- and used-car dealerships are spread among auto-parts yards and related stores, and where managers had worried in recent years about getting crowded out by parking, retail, or other airport-related uses.

It also will set off a reverse game of musical chairs in the Airport Auto Mall. The Chevrolets will move to the nearby Chapman Nissan site, and the Nissan dealership will be moved to the vacant Winner Lincoln Mercury site.

The Meissners plan to reopen the used-car lot in Glenolden that their father, John, operated in the 1970s, David Meissner said.

At Meissner Chevrolet, "we're going to have a complete, everything-must-go, regardless of cost or loss, sale," general manager John Busillo said.