“It’s always about getting better.” said Lakeland Automall owner Greg Balasco who brought together local businesses, politicians, automotive partners and even some of the highest level executives from Hyundai Motor America for the Lakeland Hyundai Grand Re-Opening & Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on March 22, 2023.
When the Lakeland Hyundai building opening its doors in 2016, it was the culmination of a 3 year project and a $18M investment into a section of W. Memorial Blvd. in Lakeland, FL. Instead of choosing to move the location out of Lakeland and along Interstate 4, Greg Balasco chose to stay in Lakeland and continue to add to the area redevelopment. It would be only a few short years later when Hyundai Motor America chose to rebrand and redesign dealerships across the country in a modernization upgrade.
Since 2009, Greg Balasco was in negotiations with the Mutz family about purchasing the Lakeland Automall brand stores including Lakeland Ford, Lakeland Hyundai and at the time, Lakeland Mazda. In 2012 the merger and sales of Lakeland Automall to the Balasco’s was complete and plans began for the revitalization of West Memorial Blvd and upgrades to all of the facilities. Since that time construction has been a constant with major renovations and building upgrades taking place all over the 28 acre campus.
“Modernizing the entire campus to include the necessary infrastructure for electric vehicles and an ever changing automotive market has been an ongoing collaboration with the City of Lakeland, local businesses and community leaders.” Greg Balasco continued, “We have taken major strides to get where we are today and we continue to expand to meet the needs of the community and industry.” The continues growth of the EV market and demand for more fuel efficient and “green” vehicles has been one of the driving forces behind the change. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning have been major contributing forces to the expanding electric vehicle segment and Hyundai’s introduction of the IONIQ5 and Hybrid-Electric models continues to add to the ever growing line-up of vehicles.
Project will continue over the next several years with the recent opening of the expanded Lakeland Body Shop at 1233 W. Memorial Blvd. and the new Lakeland Genesis building (Formerly Lakeland Mazda) at 1245 W. Memorial Blvd. planned for completion in 2024. The new Lakeland Genesis will be the largest stand alone Genesis location in Central Florida including a premium showroom, custom valet services and remote automotive solutions that fit the most demanding of guest services. Lakeland Genesis is currently available at the Lakeland Hyundai showroom.
We want to send a Special “THANK YOU” to every Lakeland Hyundai customer and to all of those who came for the Grand Re-opening and Ribbon Cutting. On to the next….