BY JIM KINNEY
The new Marcotte Ford building taking shape at 1025 Main St. will reflect the latest in Ford Motor Co. design and branding.
But it will be filled with a lot of the familiar faces customers know from Marcotte’s 55 years in business in the Paper City.
“We have a lot of immediate family who work here,” said Suzanne Keller, a granddaughter of dealership founder Al Marotte. “But all the people who work here are family. People come here to work and we don’t want them to leave.”
Marcotte Ford hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking Friday for its $8 million dealership building. The 40,000-square-foot facility is set to open in the summer of 2018, said Mike Marcotte, president of the dealership an Suzanne’s brother.
This new building will go with the $3.5 million commercial truck repair facility built in 2015. Marcotte already has a QuickLube service facility on site in a separate building with eight service bays.
Forish Construction of Westfield began work on the building in June.
When it is done, the new building will include a 24-bay service department bringing the total number of bays at Marcotte’s campus here to 48. The new building will have a dedicated service bay where only vehicle inspections will be performed.
For the time being, Marcotte sales and service is across Main Street in the former Gary Rome, building. Mike Marcotte said that once the new dealership building is complete most operations will move back except for commercial vehicle sales.
With 140 employees, Marcotte plans to add about 10 more workers after the move, Mike Marcotte said.
The new building will also have dedicated space for the popular LugNutz Café.
Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse said the city has been talking with the Marcotte family about a much-needed expansion for five years. He also lauded Marcotte for its support of Holyoke nonprofits, including Providence Ministries and the Holyoke Boys & Girls Club.
Al Marcotte started the dealership in 1961 with 30 employees, Mike Marcotte said. The business moved to Main Street in 1962.