Used auto dealership will move to city's west side

Maria Flora, The Lebanon Reporter, Ind.
·2 min read

Sep. 8—Superior Auto, Inc. is slated to move to the city's west side after receiving approval from the Lebanon Board of Zoning Appeals on Monday.

The used auto sales company now operates at 2437 N. Lebanon St., but that property is being sold for the development of a Taco Bell and a coffee shop.

Superior Auto applied to the city for conditional zoning to allow used car sales at 1317 W. South St., also know as Ind. 32. The auto dealer has already begun rehabbing the vacant, dilapidated building there, company representative John McDougall told the board.

Kork and Keg Liquors is one door to the east, and the immediate area already houses auto-related businesses, including body shops, an AutoZone Auto Parts, and Pomp's Tire and Auto Service. Plus, a Casey's convenience store is expected to locate west of the lot, Lebanon Planning Director Ben Bontrager said.

The conditional use applies only to Superior Auto during the time it leases the property, and subsequent tenants would have to apply for a conditional use to operate a used car sales business there, Bontrager said.

Superior Auto, a national company, has a newer inventory, nothing older than 2013, McDougall said, adding, "We think we'd be a good addition to that corridor."

The area along Ind. 32 from Interstate 65 toward downtown is now known as the Lebanon Market Gateway since derelict commercial buildings were razed to make room for new development.

A number of commercial buildings have since gone up, including a second Lebanon Burger King just west of the Superior Auto site. Most are situated between the interstate and Ransdell Road, and Superior Auto is just east of those.

A Beef-A-Roo, an Illinois-based restaurant chain, has applied to locate in the same block, at 1360 Ind. 32, on the site of the former KFC on the north side of Ind. 32.