By January, the Baton Rouge Metro Airport could begin flying dozens of car salesmen in and out of the city on a weekly basis. That’s when ABC Baton Rouge plans to open the bidding process at used-car auctions in the Aviation Business Park at BRT.
The car auctions could initially move up to 600 cars a week to dealerships in the Gulf Coast region, with a projected start in mid-January, says ABC Baton Rouge managing partner Butch Royall, who estimates the Capital Region could see as many as 35,000 cars auctioned off by the end of next year.
“We can’t believe this city does not have an auction,” says Royall, who has spent 48 years in the business, mainly for ABC’s nationwide parent company, Auction Broadcasting Co. “Somehow the industry hadn’t noticed Baton Rouge. It’s sort of a long overdue process.”
The Baton Rouge Metro Airport is clearing 20 acres of woods on the north end of the airport to make way for a $2 million, climate-controlled warehouse for ABC Baton Rouge.
“It’s part of one of our first developments for the Aviation Business Park,” says Jason Wilson, an administration and development manager at the airport.
The bulk of cars that ABC will auction are those that were leased for about two years by car-rental companies, banks, and real estate and pharmaceutical companies, Royall says.
Not just any buyer will be admitted to an ABC auction and allowed to make a bid, Royall says. Rather, the auctions will be open only to licensed car dealers who will be vetted—especially if they are buying hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cars at a time.
“Needless to say, you want to make sure when a dealer comes and buys that many cars, he can pay for it,” Royall says.
There are about 480 auctions sites across the country, Royall says. The closest are in Slidell and Hattiesburg, Miss. They are owned and operated by Manheim.
ABC also expects to auction about 25% of its cars online to dealerships located thousands of miles away, Royall says. Baton Rouge has plenty of room for ABC to grow, he says, noting large cities like Houston and Dallas have three or four car auction locations. ABC Baton Rouge will initially employ about 50 workers and could grow to 100 by the end of the year, Royall says.
“We’ll have a range of everything, from car washers to CPAs,” Royall says.
The Aviation Park currently houses United Coca-Cola Bottlers, Express Jet Regional Jet Maintenance Center, the East Baton Rouge Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness, the DHH Office of Emergency Preparedness and the Baton Rouge Fire Department Headquarters and Training Facility. Besides ABC, future expected tenants include Loomis, All Star Chevrolet-North, the sheriff’s office, and others.
