Northpinellas: U.S. 19 woods gives way to car dealer

As one of the last remaining large, undeveloped properties along U.S. 19 through the heart of Palm Harbor, its development is a benchmark of sorts, signifying the nearly complete transformation of U.S. 19 from a two-lane rural road to a jam-packed commercial hub.

Robert E. Hogue, 58, who was born and raised in Ozona, remembers the days when U.S. 19 was lined mostly by orange groves. Hogue moved to Pittsburgh for 25 years before returning to his homestead seven years ago. After driving all night from Pittsburgh, he decided to get off Interstate 75 in Hernando County and cut over to U.S. 19 for the remainder of the drive south.

He was amazed to find himself caught in morning rush-hour traffic on a six-lane highway. "It was horrifying," he said.

Hogue laughed when he heard commercials on television and radio for businesses in Palm Harbor. When he grew up in the area, few people from Tampa or St. Petersburg had ever even heard of Palm Harbor, and surely would never travel all that way to one its businesses.

But people know Palm Harbor now, he said.

"It has become quite a business center," he said. "It's just such a significant change."

The 12-acre property owned by Larry Dimmitt Jr. through his company Dimmitt Car Leasing Inc. was one of the last holdouts to the takeover of commercial development on U.S. 19. Two years ago, Dimmitt sold the southern 5 acres of the property to Safeguard Self Storage, which opened in February. Then, last month, the remaining 6.7 acres was sold to Sandy Woods for the Honda dealership.

"There are really no more vacant parcels around," said Mark Klein of Klein & Heuchan Inc. Realtors, who handled the sale.

In fact, he said, the only remaining large, undeveloped properties on U.S. 19 between Curlew and Alderman roads are spoken for. There is a 4-acre property just north of County Road 39 that is under contract to a company that plans to develop office space, Klein said. And then there are two lots on the east side of U.S. 19 -- one just north of Sweet Tomatoes, and the other just south of Tampa Road -- that are owned by the county.

Klein said his business has been selling, and often reselling several times over, commercial properties on U.S. 19 for more than 25 years. From now on, he said, it will be nothing but redevelopment, tearing down existing businesses to make way for new ones. With 60,000 to 70,000 cars passing through Palm Harbor on U.S. 19 each day, he said, it is clearly the commercial corridor of the region.

Woods, who 12 years ago started his first car dealership, Brandon Dodge, said his company began scouting locations for a Honda dealership in Palm Harbor a year and a half ago. What he discovered was that U.S. 19 is nearly built-out.

"We were actually pretty lucky (to find a suitable undeveloped lot)," he said.

But it didn't come cheap, he said. It cost nearly $3-million.

"It's U.S. 19 -- what are you going to do?" Woods said. "It's a prime location."

Woods said his company hopes to open Palm Harbor Honda by March 1. The plans call for a showroom, 26 service stalls, a parts department, a carwash, "the whole nine yards," Woods said. Once up and running, it will employ as many as 80 people, he said.

The demographics are right, he said. It is tucked between Honda dealerships in Port Richey and Clearwater, both on U.S. 19. There are about 8,000 to 9,000 Honda owners in the Palm Harbor area, he said, which should translate to a strong service business. And the upper-middle-class demographics are right to sell Hondas, he said.

"The Palm Harbor area is really growing," he said.

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