Located at the interchange of Route 1 and Interstate 95, the $20-million project will break ground "in two or three months" and will be completed by the spring of 2006, according to Jim Xaros, VP at Herb Chambers, who will oversee the project.

When completed, the dealership "will have the look and feel of a five-star hotel," Xaros tells Globest.com. The portico entrance to the facility will feature a working water fountain with landscaped areas surrounding the lot, which will accommodate more than 1,000 new and pre-owned cars. Chambers will construct a 100,000-plus-sf building that will feature a two-story atrium with polished marble and granite finishes and multiple skylights. The showroom for the dealership will be designed to house more than 30 cars and there will be a four-lane drive-up service reception area. The building will also have a rooftop garden with a putting green.

The facility will also have a number of other amenities not typically found in auto dealerships. There will be a series of separate lounges at the facility, one for children, another for TV viewing and a reading room with a fireplace. There will also be a corporate training center, as well as a business center with Internet access.

"Herb and I toured what Lexus viewed as the five best recently built facilities with our architect, and we feel that with the ideas we gathered, we will have the finest Lexus dealership in the country," says Xaros.

Herb Chambers has selected Regent Associates to design the facility, but has not yet settled on a builder. Regent has designed more than100 auto dealerships, as well as other commercial projects, and has done at least 10 with Herb Chambers alone. Cushman & Wakefield senior directors Catherine Minnerly and J. P. Plunkett brokered the sale of the land for the project.