Porter-Sprague

Jun 23, 2015

Mel Rapton Honda to buy vintage auto shop for downtown service center Jun 23, 2015, 7:33am PDT //= $authorImg ?> Enlarge Ben van der Meer | Sacramento Business Journal Mel Rapton Honda is in escrow to buy a vintage auto shop at 722-724 12th St. and… more The owners of Mel Rapton Honda are in contract to buy the 1930s-vintage Porter-Sprague Inc. auto shop in downtown Sacramento. They plan to make it a service center convenient for workers in nearby office towers. Brokers with Cushman & Wakefield’s Sacramento office said escrow is set to close by the end of August for the property at 722-724 12th St. and 1115-1119 H St., occupying half a city block. “A service center obviously will have a lot of things added, but they want to keep the integrity of the building as it is,” said Kevin Lynch , a director at Cushman & Wakefield. A personal connection helped make the deal happen, with Curtis Rapton ferrying parts between Porter-Sprague and his father’s Honda dealerships years ago. “There was a longstanding history of knowing each other,” Lynch said. Porter-Sprague’s owner had put the property, including a 20,745-square-foot building, up for sale some time ago. Lynch said another potential sale would’ve resulted in redeveloping the site as condos and retail space, but the deal fell through. Rapton, who’d toured the site while the other deal was in place, quickly jumped in with an offer, Lynch said. While he would not discuss the pending purchase price, Lynch said the deal was another sign of new interest in downtown. “It’s good to see these longtime companies coming downtown,” he said. Cushman & Wakefield managing director Ron Thomas , who worked with Lynch on the deal on behalf of the buyer, said the Honda service center could open as soon as this fall. Lynch said Porter-Sprague has stopped taking new business and under the terms of the contract needs to auction off existing equipment inside the shop before escrow closes. The future service center’s design will be a hybrid of new and old, Lynch said, with the Curtis and Katina Rapton planning to retain the brick walls, for example. “They like the location and think it’s a good opportunity,” Lynch said. The Raptons hope to serve not only workers downtown but an expected surge of new residents, under a city goal of adding thousands of new housing units in the area. Jeff Post of TRI Commercial Real Estate worked on the sale on behalf of the seller. Want Sacramento Retailing & Restaurants news in your inbox? Sign up for our free email newsletters. Industries