Former Reds player hopes to score big with new Honda dealership

The dealership bears the name of the Hall of Fame second baseman and ESPN baseball analyst, who is the majority owner of the dealership.

It will be located in the Warren County portion of Monroe on about 4.5 acres just south of Treasure Aisles flea market off Ohio 63 and Interstate 75.

Morgan’s wife also attended the ceremony, along with several Honda officials from California and the Greater Cincinnati area and John Voss, co-owner of the dealership. Also in attendance were Dick Lange, general manager of the dealership, and several Monroe officials.

Morgan, an Oakland native who resides in Danville, Calif., said he chose Monroe because it is a growing community along Interstate 75.

“The mall is there, the flea markets here draw people over the weekend ... there’s just a lot going on here and we expect it to continue. The one good thing is we’re close enough to Dayton that we can draw from there, and we’re very close to Cincinnati.

“I think we’re in a location that allows us to take advantage of two big cities,” Morgan said.

“John (Voss) has been very successful in the automobile industry, he knows what we’re doing and we’ve done a lot of research, and so we decided this is where we wanted to go, and this is the time that we wanted to do it.”

City Manager William Brock said Monroe is glad the project finally came to fruition.

“Being where we are and watching it grow and watching it come together, it always seems that it’s going to take a long time. They committed to move forward even with the economy the way it is, and we’re very pleased that this day is here,” he said.

The project calls for a 28,553-square-foot automobile sales and service area that will perform full service work. Plans also call for a collision center to be built at the dealership after the initial opening, Voss said.

Kevin Chesar, the director of development for Monroe, said the project will include 167,467 square feet of outdoor sales area and a total of $3.5 million in real property value improvements.

Contact this reporter at (513) 483-5219 or dewilson@coxohio.com.