The building on Massport land along the Mystic River and leased by Diversified Automotive in Charlestown is coming down. The property is used to process cars for East Coast dealerships.
Over the years, the building has fallen into disrepair and has become a safety hazard according to Massport. Recently, Diversified Automotive extended their lease with Massport for another 40 years and agreed the building has to come down.
“The building was used to process Subaru cars for dealerships in New York and New Jersey,” said Diversified Automotive’s Dennis Kraez. “Currently we moved that operation down the street to a temporary location.”
At that location, Diversified Automotive has done a lot to minimize the vehicle traffic in Charlestown caused by the company’s operations.
“We have built back roads to accommodate this temporary location so as to minimize our use of main streets in Charlestown,” said Kraez. “We it comes to the neighborhood and impacts we always want to do the right thing and minimize impacts as much as we can.”
Kraez said Diversified Automotive meets regularly with the Charlestown Community Council to brief them on any news or updates on operations at the auto port.
“We are still in the planning stages but hope to begin demolition on the old building this month and begin construction on a new, smaller building in the Spring,” said Kraez.
Kraez expects the new building will be half the size of the old one measuring in at just three acres.
“Once the new building is constructed we will move our operations back from the temporary site to the new facility,” said Kraez.
Diversified Automotive will then continue to process cars for New York and New Jersey.
“What we get shipped to us is the basic Subaru and we fill dealership orders on manufacture upgrades like sound systems, lighting, floor mats, etc.,” said Kraez. “We‘ve been here for 15 years and we will be here for a while and look forward to working with the community in Charlestown—a place we love to call home.”