The only problem was that his family – the Tonkin family that owns 14 auto dealerships in Oregon – didn’t have an Audi dealership.

That’s about to change.

“I am passionate about the brand,” Tonkin said. “That’s what really drove us to get this dealership is that I am an aficionado for the Audi brand.”

The Tonkins own the Wilsonville Nissan dealership current operating off of 95th Avenue, as well as Acura, Chevrolet, Dodge, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Scion, Toyota, Lotus, Maserati and Ferrari dealerships around Oregon.

For the past three to four years the Tonkins have been working to get an Audi dealership. With last week’s unanimous DRB decision, that dream now becomes reality.

In 2004, the city approved a master plan for the 17.05 acre parcel the family owns for three dealerships and a storage area. The Nissan dealership and the storage area were phase one of the project, the Audi dealership was slated as phase two. A third dealership has been master planned for the property, but currently there are no plans to develop it, Tonkin said.

“The manufacturer picks where the dealership is going to be located,” Tonkin said. “They looked at Vancouver, Washington and out in east county. But they determined that Wilsonville was the best place to have a dealership. Fortunately, we had the land.”

There are only two other Audi dealerships in the state of Oregon, in Beaverton and Bend.

The dealership, designed by LRS Architects, is a 25,348 square foot facility that will contain commercial vehicle service area, sales area, office area and industrial storage.

The building will be made of tilt-concrete walls and steel construction. The project will be next door to the Nissan dealership off 95th Avenue. Tonkin said the cost of the project is approximately $5 million.

“This is not an inexpensive building,” said Blaise Edmonds, manager of current planning. “They have said it was very important that the building and corporate image be high quality.”

In the traffic survey, conducted by DKS Associates, it was determined the project will produce nine afternoon peak hour trips at the Wilsonville Road and Interstate 5 interchange and 32 afternoon peak hour trips through the Stafford Road interchange.

Edmonds said because there are scheduled improvements to 95th near the intersection with Boones Ferry Road and Commerce Circle there aren’t any traffic concerns.

The new Audi dealership also will have to follow the same rules as other dealerships in town, moving cars from in front of the building before 10 p.m.

Daniel Drake, project manager with LRS Architects, said some of the challenges on the site have included Bonneville Power Administration power lines and wetlands, which had to be mitigated.

Tonkin said he was “very pleased” with the unanimous support of the DRB and he planned to begin construction sometime in March or April of 2010. The hope is to have the dealership up and running by mid-summer 2010.

The Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships is Oregon’s 17th largest private employer and was voted “One of the Best 100 companies in Oregon to Work For.” It has been in the Portland area for more than 48 years.