Business

LIGHTNING PHOTOS: Boyds thank builders, welcome customers

Cam Boyd and Les Boyd thank crowd at open house for new Chevrolet dealership.

By Bill Moss, Published: December 18, 2013

The father-and-son Boyd team showed off their new dealership on Spartanburg Highway last Thursday and thanked customers, contractors and others who helped make it happen.

Boyd Chevrolet opened the new dealership last month and hosted a well attended open house on Thursday night.
"I appreciate your deciding to do this and help to move the company forward," Les Boyd told his dad, Cam Boyd, during a short presentation. "Five years ago, nobody would have ever thought that the car business would be where it is today."
Today the new-car business has recovered from the recession floor in 2008, and American carmakers are prospering.
L.C. "Les" Boyd III is the third generation to head the family business that his grandfather started at Five Points in 1932.
To build the new dealership on the Spartanburg Highway motor mile, contractors cleared a mobile home park, gas station, carwash and laundromat.
"One of the main things we wanted to do with this project was to keep the dollars within the county or within the surrounding area," Les Boyd said.
He thanked Mark Pace, the demolition contractor; Cooper Construction and project manager Trey Ford; architect Mike Rouse, Tar Heel Paving, project managers Scott Calhoun and Jack Alexander, and G.E. Lightning Solutions, which provided the sales lot lighting.
"We wanted to find a way we could use their lighting system," he said. "They're a huge partner in all this process being able to provide special pricing and we want to be their showroom in the future."
Cam Boyd traveled to Atlanta, the closest dealership that uses outdoor lighting made at G.E.'s East Flat Rock plant.
Les Boyd also thanked Hendersonville City Manager John Connet, who recommended a waiver of water-use impact fees because the dealership will use less water than the previous businesses on the land.
"He listened to our concerns with the impact fees," Boyd said. "We appreciate all the concessions and your time looking into this issue."
He thanked Henderson County, which bought the old Boyd dealership property next to Hendersonville High School for $2.75 million for HHS expansion.