Winter Park commissioners pause talks on proposed McLaren auto dealership
McLaren Orlando wants to transform a shuttered hardware store in a major corridor of Winter Park into one of its luxury auto dealerships.
But the city’s strict zoning rules limit vehicle sales to small areas of land on the north side of Winter Park.
On Wednesday, commissioners postponed a decision after hearing McLaren’s request for the city to change its zoning code by adding conditions for “specialty transportation businesses,” a category it argues is different from typical car dealerships.
Mary Doty Solik, an Orlando lawyer representing McLaren, told commissioners that the request to change the zoning text is meant to “differentiate our business model.”
“We have never maintained that we don’t sell cars. What we have attempted to do is create a definition that reflects our business,” she said. “What your community doesn’t like about car dealerships doesn’t happen at a traditional McLaren dealership.”
McLaren’s vehicle inventory, which starts around $250,000 and runs up to about $2 million, is not displayed in rows outdoors and test drives are by appointment only. In Florida, the company has sales centers in Titusville, Tampa Bay, Miami and West Palm Beach.
Tom Roach, general manager of McLaren Orlando, said the Winter Park spot is ideal for a showroom. It’s a 2.4 acre site on Orlando Avenue, near Orange Avenue, and has been vacant since Orchard Supply closed in 2018.
The building is relatively new and the company would keep the same layout but replace the closed walls with windows to show off its inventory of sports cars.
The parking lot is small because of an exception the city made five years ago, so the building can’t be used for a retail store, office or restaurant.
The company said its “low volume” sales approach doesn’t require many parking spots, so it’s willing to convert about 22,000 square feet of the lot into green space.
Early renderings show cars hanging from the ceiling, which Roach called “a bit cheesy” while explaining to commissioners that those were not the final designs.
“We think it would be a premium retail experience and also a place that people would bring their kids and check out cool cars, which happens out on the Space Coast,” he said. “It’s not going to be a ruckus, hot-rod type of scenario. It’s going to be a first class operation.”
But McLaren’s plans face a lot of opposition. City staff and the planning board recommend that commissioners deny their request over concern that changing the zoning code would allow other car dealerships to ask for the same exception.
Two neighborhood associations are divided on the issue and wrote letters to commissioners. Townhomes At Harper Place supports McLaren and said people often sleep behind the vacant building and the landscape is overgrown.
Orwin Manor Westminster Association is asking the city to deny McLaren’s request because of pedestrian safety issues and noise pollution.
All commissioners said they support McLaren setting up in Winter Park but were torn on changing the zoning rules, so the issue was tabled. McLaren will have a chance to work with city staff to tweak the language in their request and possibly explore other sites.
Vice Mayor Carolyn Cooper said she’s hoping there’s another property in the city’s approved areas that the company can use for a dealership.
“I don’t want to lose them but I also don’t want to play games with what is a car and what is not,” she said. “This policy is pretty clear what it says—it says no motor vehicles on our major corridors.”
