La Puente dealership woes

That’s it folks. Looks like any hope to expand La Puente’s Ed Butts Ford dealership onto an adjacent city-owned lot has been squashed.

The council is expected to consider tonight an exclusive negotiating agreement with Beverly Westwood Development Company for the Hacienda Boulevard site — the same site that Ed Butts Ford has had its sights on for almost a decade, depending on who you ask.

The city has been in negotiations with Ed Butts for about five years to build a commercial truck center there. But liability concerns have prevented any lease agreements from being finalized.
(You can read the full story here.)

When I first called Ed Butts’ General Manager Anthony Iannone about the issue Friday, he was caught off guard to say the least. Iannone didn’t know anything about Beverly Westwood or the city’s potential plans to ax negotiations when Ed Butts. But Iannone said he wasn’t surprised and that he “expected it with this city.”

Ouch.

If the Beverly Westwood agreement is approved tonight, all further negotiations with Ed Butts Ford will be officially terminated.

Here’s a picture taken by staff photographer Keith Birmingham two years back when Iannone and his dad —the owner — announced unofficial plans to develop the site with the city. They looked so happy then.

Ah, how times change.