Porsche Dealership to Replace Popular East Bay Restaurant

A well-known sports bar and restaurant in Walnut Creek is slated for a Porsche dealership.

Fletcher Jones Imports, a Las Vegas-based auto dealer that owns the Masses Sports Bar & Grill at 2721 North Main Street, is pushing plans for a 132,000-square-foot Porsche dealership, the Mercury News reported.

A Fletcher Jones affiliate bought the property in June of last year for $14 million from an entity affiliated with Price Family Dealerships and Tom Price Automotive, which paid $12.5 million for the property the year prior. Fletcher Jones’ price amounts to $106 per square foot.

The project, near the downtown district of the East Bay city, would consist of a three-story Porsche dealership, offering sales and service in a 132,000-square-foot structure.

Gensler is the architect, and La Jolla-based Spyder Builders is the general contractor.

Building vertically will avoid the parking sprawl typically associated with dealerships, Spyder’s Stephen Scanlon told the design review board. He called the design a prototype.

“We have integrated everything into this one building,” he said.

Vehicles arriving at the site will be directed to the rooftop, a basement garage or the auto repair shop. That setup is part of Porsche’s “Gen 5” design for dealerships.

Not everyone is pleased with the plans for the dealership. Neighbors have concerns about traffic from the dealership, noting it’s a “family-friendly residential neighborhood.” Tami Kerr, an executive with nearby HVAC business Eco Performance Builders, said “the concern is the traffic on such a narrow street.”

Scanlon said it will create less traffic than an existing Porsche dealership nearby.

Walnut Creek will consider the proposal before determining a path forward.

As for Masses Sports Bar, the second-generation owners said they are looking for a new home in the East Bay city.

“This is not the end,” they said.

— Chris Malone Méndez