High-Profile: November 2026 | Page 43

November 2026 43

By Tim Puopolo

When a five-story former bank headquarters along Interstate 93 became one of Greater Boston’ s largest Toyota dealerships, it signaled a broader shift in commercial real estate. It offered a glimpse into where the next generation of dealership growth may come from: opportunities hiding in plain sight within underutilized office and retail properties.

In Medford, Mass., our team at CM & B recently completed the redevelopment of the former Century Bank headquarters into Herb Chambers Toyota of Boston, the largest dealership in the extensive Herb Chambers dealership portfolio. The project combined an 89,000sf office building with a new 120,000sf addition to

The interior vehicle storage deck, with a center drive aisle flanked by stacked parking lifts

create a full-scale, 200,000sf automotive retail destination on a 4.9-acre site with direct visibility from I-93. In a corridor where available land is essentially gone, the existing building was not an obstacle. It was the opportunity.

The completed facility includes four levels of showroom space, a 37-bay service center, more than 570 parking spaces, and capacity for approximately 300 indoor vehicle displays and storage positions. A five-story vehicle elevator connects the service, delivery, and showroom levels, allowing vehicles to move through a building that was never designed with cars in mind. A separate three-level service structure handles reconditioning, parts storage, and additional inventory.

The scale is notable, but the more instructive part of this story is how we got there.

Repositioning an existing commercial

Street-level view of the dealership / Photos courtesy of CM & B

building for automotive retail is fundamentally different from starting with a vacant site. Before making structural decisions, we first needed to understand exactly what we were working with: load capacities, traffic flow, utilities, and site conditions that a vacant lot simply does not have.

​Early collaboration among ownership, design, engineering, and our construction team made all the difference. By working through the critical questions before construction began, we created greater cost transparency, reduced surprises, and designed around the building’ s footprint rather than against it.

In my experience, the most important decisions in repositioning projects happen before construction ever begins. Taking the time upfront to understand the building and aligning the full team early allows us to make informed choices and ultimately turn existing conditions into advantages rather than constraints.

During construction, Herb Chambers

The service reception area, with wood-clad advisor stations, clerestory windows and a glassed-in office Companies was acquired by Asbury Automotive Group, one of the nation’ s largest automotive retailers, adding another significant milestone to the project’ s timeline. Rather than disrupting the project, the transition helped shape its final form.

The renovated fifth floor now houses

Main showroom and reception lobby, with vehicles displayed on the mezzanine

Asbury’ s Northeast regional offices, making the building both a retail flagship and a corporate home for one of the country’ s largest dealership groups.“ We deeply value our partnership with Toyota and are proud to collaborate with them on this state-of-the-art dealership. Toyota was the right OEM for this unique location, and CM & B made the vision possible,” said Daniel Clara, president and CEO of Asbury Automotive Group.“ This partnership allowed us to bring together retail, service, and regional support functions in a way that fits the market while supporting the needs of our team members and guests.”

Office-to-residential conversions have received much of the attention around reusing older buildings. I believe dealership operators should consider different kinds of opportunities. Commercial properties with strong visibility, substantial existing square footage, and solid infrastructure can offer something that is becoming harder to find: a foothold in markets where there is simply no land left to build on.

The service department, with a row of two-post Rotary lifts, overhead utility drops and a tire-balancing station

In places like Greater Boston, adaptive reuse is not merely a workaround. It is increasingly the most viable path forward. The redevelopment of Herb Chambers Toyota of Boston reinforced my belief that some of the best opportunities come from reimagining what already exists. As land-constrained markets continue to challenge dealership growth, the opportunity may not be in finding the next vacant parcel, but in recognizing the potential of an existing asset.

Tim Puopolo is president and auto sector leader at CM & B.

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