By Greg Halbleib
BLOOMINGTON – A long-time Bloomington car dealership has broken ground for an expanded facility.
Brothers Ben and Tim Leman plan to expand one of their recently-acquired auto dealerships with a new 35,000-square-foot Sam Leman Toyota facility. During a ceremonial groundbreaking, Ben Leman said the new facility will build on the three-decade Leman presence in Bloomington.
“We first came to Bloomington back in March of 1986. That’s when we bought the Harjak stores on Morrissey,” Leman said. “We anticipate moving into this new store in March of 2018.”
The new Sam Leman Toyota will be at 1600 Morrissey Drive in Bloomington, about a block south of the present location and across from Leman’s Chevy City.
Ben Leman said the expansion has been planned for about a year.
“When we bought the store from Bob Dennison in May of last year, we made an agreement with Toyota at that point to build a new Toyota dealership,” Leman said. “The community is worth it, and fortunately we were able to make it work right here in Bloomington.”
The new dealership will include Toyota’s latest service equipment and a state-of-the-art showroom.
The Toyota dealership is one of six Leman facilities in Bloomington and 10 in Central Illinois.
Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].
