Greg Shottenkirk said his family’s automotive group bought Subaru of Jacksonville this week for several reasons.
“We didn’t have a Subaru store, and we love the Jacksonville market and we were looking to grow in Florida,” said Shottenkirk, owner and CEO of Shottenkirk Automotive Group, which has headquarters in Frisco, Texas, and in its founding state of Iowa.
Another reason is the Porter family, which has owned Subaru of Jacksonville since 2000.
“The market, the brand, the growth of Jacksonville, and the job they have done for 25 years there,” Shottenkirk said Sept. 10.
“It is a very established business.”
Shottenkirk said he “can’t say enough nice things about the Porter” family.
Shottenkirk said he caught wind several months ago that R. Phil Porter Sr., the founder of Subaru of Jacksonville, decided to retire and sell the dealership.
He said the deal came together through Andy Gill, president and CEO of Gill Automotive Group, a mergers and acquisitions firm in the auto dealership industry.
Gill said Sept. 10 his firm, based in St. Augustine Beach, represented Greg Shottenkirk in the transaction, which he said closed Sept. 9.
Shottenkirk said Phil Porter Jr. – seen on the “If you drive a Subaru, you’ll buy a Subaru” commercials – will be executive manager, and all 65 employees also remain.
While the Shottenkirk website will feature Subaru of Jacksonville, the Jacksonville dealership keeps its name.
“Subaru of Jacksonville has done a great job, so why change the name?” Greg Shottenkirk said.
“We love it and we love their success. Everything they have done has been well done.”
He said Subaru of Jacksonville will continue supporting the community causes it has been supporting.
“We love what the Porter family has done in the community,” Shottenkirk said.
Shottenkirk said further investment in Jacksonville and Florida will depend on “what becomes available” but the group first will concentrate on the Subaru dealerships.
Property sale
Shottenkirk Automotive Group of Iowa and Texas bought Subaru of Jacksonville property this week from PJP L.L.C., led by the Porter family.
A deed recorded Sept. 10 with the Duval County Clerk of Courts shows that Shottenkirk Jacksonville Properties LLC, in West Burlington, Iowa, paid $30 million for three parcels totaling 10.017 acres at 10800 Atlantic Blvd. in East Arlington and 1717 St. Johns Bluff Road S.
The dealership and service buildings total 67,284 square feet.
Shottenkirk also has executive offices in Frisco, Texas.
Greg Shottenkirk declined to comment on the sale price. The Porter family, owners of Subaru of Jacksonville, also had no comment Sept. 10.
The deed was executed Sept. 8.
Shottenkirk Automotive Group
Shottenkirk Automotive Group has 28 dealerships representing 18 brands in Texas (11); Georgia, (six); three each in Alabama, Iowa and Illinois; and two in California.
The six Georgia dealerships are Shottenkirk CDJR (Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram) Canton, Shottenkirk Hyundai Canton, Shottenkirk Honda of Cartersville, Shottenkirk Ford Jasper, Shottenkirk Honda of Rome and Shottenkirk Hyundai Rome.
Shottenkirk.com says its dealerships stock the latest models from more than a dozen car manufacturers, including Buick, Kia, Lexus and Toyota.
The Jacksonville purchase adds Subaru to the new brands it sells. Its website shows it carries used Subaru models.
Subaru of Jacksonville operates a sales showroom and service garage on about 3.8 acres at 10800 Atlantic Blvd., built in 1971 and bought by the Porter family in 2001, and added a new showroom, repair garage and car wash in 2024 on St. Johns Bluff Road.
The parcels connect in a back corner, wrapping around the Discovery Plaza shopping center at southeast Atlantic Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff road with access from both roads.
The city issued a permit May 23, 2023, for Stellar Group Inc. to build a $13.18 million sales and service facility on 6.13 acres at 1717 St. Johns Bluff Road S., near Subaru’s existing dealership on Atlantic Boulevard.
The city issued a permit Jan. 27, 2023, for Stellar to clear the site and start horizontal development at a cost of $2.86 million.
That boosted the dealership investment to at least $16.6 million.
Property owner PJP L.L.C., part of the ownership of Subaru of Jacksonville, bought the 6.13 acres Sept. 9, 2020.
R. Phil Porter opened Subaru of Jacksonville in 2000.
It has since been a family-owned and -operated new and used vehicle dealership.
The Shottenkirk site says its business started more than 60 years ago in Abingdon, Illinois, with the opening of Dean and Bob’s Chevrolet.
Bob Shottenkirk took over sole ownership four years later and served the communities of western Illinois for 20 years before moving the dealership to downtown Fort Madison, Iowa, in November 1984.
The site says Shottenkirk Chevrolet/Oldsmobile grew quickly in southeast Iowa. In the fall of 1989, following the death of Bob Shottenkirk, his son, Greg, assumed the primary leadership role in the dealership.
Greg Shottenkirk said his son,RJ Shottenkirk, is president.