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PLEASANT GROVE — It appears the largest electric vehicle company is expanding in Utah for the first time since opening up shop seven years ago.
Construction of a new 34,000-square-foot Tesla dealership is underway in Pleasant Grove, according to representatives of St. John Properties, a Maryland-based company with properties in Utah, who sold the land to Denver-based Drake Motor Partners LLC. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Utah County property records list Drake Motor Partners as the owners of a plot of land located at 2265 W. 700 South in Pleasant Grove. The Pleasant Grove Planning Commission a proposed site plan in January, according to city records.
St. John Properties representatives said the dealership will be a part of the fast-growing Valley Grove business park, which is a mix of office and retail space. The single-story dealership will be adjacent to the flex and R&D buildings as a part of the complex, visible from I-15. It will feature a service and maintenance area, customer lounge, design studio and office space, while the outside will have an inventory parking lot and charging stations, St. John Properties added.
"Tesla is extremely selective when choosing new dealership sites, so we consider ourselves fortunate to be able to offer the highway visibility, quality consumer demographics and overall professional environment that is essential to the company," said Daniel Thomas, the company's Utah regional partner, in a statement Monday.
"Tesla is a distinctive brand emphasizing high performance, originality and authenticity, aspects which closely align with the St. John Properties' mission," he added. "We believe Tesla's presence in Valley Grove will be a natural fit and complement the existing companies and retailers."
The first Tesla dealership in Utah opened in South Salt Lake in 2015 but it quickly endured trouble through a law that barred Tesla Motors from owning dealerships. After the state supreme court upheld that rule in 2017, the state Legislature passed a bill in 2018 that opened the door for people to buy Tesla cars in Utah.
The South Salt Lake site remains the only dealership in the state since then, per the company's list of locations.
The future site is set to expand the options as more Utah drivers slowly switch to electric options. Its rise is why the state announced its first-ever Electric Vehicle Service Equipment Steering Committee in January, which aims to work on topics and strategies related to a new Statewide Electric Vehicle Charging Network Plan.
Utah also passed legislation to adjust a future with electric vehicles on the roads. Gov. Spencer Cox also signed a bill last week that charges a 1 cent per mile road usage fee with a cap of $130.25 beginning in 2023, or about the same time as the new dealership opens.
The fee helps cover some of the loss of the gas tax that gas-powered motorists pay at the pump toward transportation projects, Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, explained in February. It is set to rise to 1.25 cents per mile with a cap of $180 in 2026, as more drivers switch to electric vehicles. It'll then switch to 1.5 cents in 2032, per the bill that was signed into law.
