Glenwood Springs will welcome a new Honda dealership by the end of the year, with the June 14 groundbreaking having set up owners David and Kim McDavid for a tentative opening around Thanksgiving.

High Country Honda, 51429 Highway 6 in West Glenwood, will incorporate a 23,500-square-foot building and a 2.1-acre lot, housing between 200 and 250 new and used cars.

“We will carry all new Hondas, and we also love used cars, so that will be a big part of what we do here,” said owner David McDavid. “We are looking to build a great reputation on the Honda name and the McDavid name.”

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McDavid said the dealership will hire about 25 employees, with the interview process beginning in late September or early October.

“The goal is to be a good employer and build a culture that makes it a fun place to work,” McDavid said. “We want to be a car source you can trust. We plan on being part of the community and taking care of our customers.”

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Included in the vehicle selection will be a number of clean natural gas vehicles, such as the Civic Natural Gas. McDavid said he intends to incorporate a CNG service shop into the dealership.

Family business

The McDavid family entered the automotive business in 1936, with McDavid’s father spearheading the David McDavid Automotive Group in the 1960s. At its height, it was the third-largest dealership group in the country, with 17 franchises and 1,100 employees throughout Texas.

After the Asbury Automotive Group purchased the David McDavid Auto Group in 1998, the family stayed on board for five years. During his time with the company, McDavid served as the vice president of regional operations and the vice president of mergers and acquisitions.

After leaving the automotive group in 2003, McDavid and his wife began the search to open their own dealership. Along the way, McDavid worked as an automotive consultant.

“During that time period, we decided there were a couple areas in the country we were interested in, and one of them was Glenwood Springs,” McDavid said. “We had been coming to Glenwood Springs and Roaring Fork Valley for winter and summer break for a long time — me for more than 40 years and my wife for over 30 years.”

In early 2011, Honda announced it would be putting a dealership back in Glenwood Springs, at which point the McDavids, still living in Texas, pursued the franchise award.

“My wife and I discussed it, and we decided that if we were lucky enough to get the dealership, we’d move to the valley,” McDavid said.

The family — including David, Kim and their two children, Mason, 20, and Mulvey, 17 — was drawn to Glenwood Springs because of the variety of outdoor activities, ranging from the Historic Fairy Caves at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park to the Hanging Lake trail, according to McDavid.

Around Thanksgiving of 2011, the McDavids received the franchise rights, and they closed on the property roughly a month later. After that, the bulk of 2012 was spent in design and in pursuing the necessary permits.

For contracting needs, McDavid hired Calcon Constructors out of Steamboat Springs, delivering a directive to hire solely local subcontractors, if possible.

“We still have a few people left to hire, but we’re up to about 85 percent local [subcontractors] right now,” McDavid said. “We want to support the community and those that support us, and we want it to be a successful business so we can live out our golden years in the Roaring Fork Valley.”

Currently, the closest Honda dealership to Glenwood Springs is Fuoco Honda, 748 N. First St., Grand Junction.