In a surprise move, Minnesota auto dealer Paul Walser will buy the Southview Chevrolet store from troubled Denny Hecker for an undisclosed price, employees verified Tuesday, ending a week of suspense in which the fate of the dealership seemed doomed.
"It happened really fast," said Mitch Greene, a manager at Walser's Buick Pontiac GMC store in Bloomington.
After signing a purchase agreement this week, Hecker's former Southview Chevrolet in Inver Grove Heights will join the Walser family of dealerships but remain a separate store just off Hwy 110. Southview is just a bit bigger than Walser's Bloomington store, Green said.
It's a graceful ending for the troubled Chevy store that had essentially closed late last week after GMAC Financial pulled Hecker's credit lines and after dozens of employees left when they didn't get paid. It is one of 11 dealerships Hecker has closed since Chrysler pulled his financing in November and GMAC did the same last week.
Multiple lawsuits
Hecker is being sued for $550 million in defaulted loans by Chrysler, for $104 million by Hyundai Motor Finance and by at least eight other entities seeking about $17 million in loans, rent, mortgages and dealership fees.
Southview Chevy will broaden Walser's reach and return him to the Chevrolet vehicles he once sold in Plymouth. Walser also owns Toyota and Scion stores in Bloomington; Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Hopkins; Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Subaru dealerships in Burnsville, and a Hyundai store in Brooklyn Park.
Employees at Walser's dealerships were told of the pending acquisition Tuesday.
