[VIDEO] Van Bortel Chevrolet Opens New $6 Million Corvette Facility in Rochester

Jun 29, 2024

9819

[VIDEO] Van Bortel Chevrolet Opens New $6 Million Corvette Facility in Rochester

Photo Credit: Van Bortel Chevrolet

One of the nation’s largest Corvette dealerships is celebrating the opening of a new $6 million facility this week.

General Motors executives and local government officials, along with other VIP guests, were in Macedon, New York on Thursday morning for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Van Bortel Chevrolet.

The Van Bortels have a long history of serving Corvette customers, beginning with Howard Van Bortel who once owned the largest Corvette dealership in the world in Palmyra, New York.

Since re-entering the Corvette market in 2013 with the purchase of the former McLouth Chevrolet in Macedon, Van Bortel Chevrolet has already become one of the top Corvette dealerships sales-wise in the United States.

Howard’s children Dotty and Howard have now taken over the operation and were among those who gathered in May 2022 to break ground on the $6 million facility known as Van Bortel Chevrolet’s Ultimate Corvette Destination on Main Street.

The new two-level Corvette sales and service facility includes a 34,000-square-foot showroom that will keep customers out of the hot and cold while providing room for 100 new Corvettes, one of the largest inventories in the U.S.

Kitty says the project was “very nostalgic” for her in more than one way. The first car she bought after starting a used car dealership in the late 1980s was a Corvette. “I grew up in Palmyra and lived there until 30,” she said at the groundbreaking two years ago. “It’s a really wonderful project. We’ve been talking about this for five years.”

Now that the facility has opened, Kitty is even more nostalgic.

“I’ve thought a lot about my father a lot today because I think he would’ve been really so excited,” she said in an interview with WHEC 10 News. “He loved Corvettes and I think he’s probably looking down on me today just being really, really proud of me about that.”

A vintage license plate that her father always used when he drove Corvettes and is on display in the new facility serves as a constant reminder.

“Every single day that I drive in here, I think about him actually. I grew up here and just to be able to make a difference in this town just really makes me feel good. And I think my father would feel really good about that too,” Van Bortel said.