Mark Williams Auto Group has broken ground on a new 23,000-square-foot Chevrolet dealership and service center at the Mt. Orab Auto Mall, expanding its Brown County complex after relocating a small franchise Chevrolet dealership it purchased in northeast Ohio to the site earlier this year. The new facility is being built at 210 Gabbard Way inside the auto mall, where the relocated Chevrolet dealership currently operates out of a temporary facility while construction moves forward.
According to WKRC, Mark Williams Auto Group is one of Greater Cincinnati's largest auto dealerships, and the new Chevrolet building will include a full-service center once complete. The project brings together a Cincinnati-based construction team: CORE Resources, Inc. is serving as general contractor alongside Mark Williams Auto Group, KBA Architects, and McGill Smith Punshon, Inc., and the finished building will showcase a new Chevrolet prototype design visible from State Route 32, according to the construction firm.
Rounding Out the Big Three Truck Brands
The Chevrolet addition gives the Mt. Orab Auto Mall a distinction few Ohio shopping centers can claim. With Ford, Ram, and now Chevrolet all represented at the same complex, the site has become one of only two locations in the state where buyers can shop all three major American truck brands without leaving the property, per Mark Williams Auto Group.
That kind of one-stop lineup matters in a region where pickup trucks are a major sales driver. The auto mall's roots go back to 2015, when Mark Williams Auto Group built the complex from the ground up; it opened in August 2016 as a $12 million project anchored by Mt. Orab Ford and Mt. Orab Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, the site's original two dealerships, as the News Democrat reported at the time.
A Three-Decade Expansion From a Single Cincinnati Lot
Mark Williams Auto Group's history stretches back to 1992, when the company was founded with the acquisition of Beechmont Ford in Anderson Township. Since then, the group has grown from that single Hamilton County dealership into a regional network that now includes a collision body shop and an in-house insurance agency, alongside its Brown County footprint.
The Chevrolet purchase is the latest in a string of recent moves. In 2023, the group expanded its Greater Cincinnati holdings by acquiring Woody Sander Ford and rebranding it as Queen City Ford, part of a broader consolidation trend reshaping regional auto retail.
Highway Upgrades Paved the Way
The dealership expansion follows years of public investment along the State Route 32 corridor that runs through Mt. Orab. In October 2024, the Ohio Department of Transportation completed a $17.9 million diamond interchange at State Route 32 and Bruce Lunsford Way, finishing nearly a year ahead of schedule, according to Construction Digest. Hoodline previously reported on that early opening.
The interchange replaced a stretch of road with a troubled safety record. Before construction, the SR 32 and Brooks-Malott Road intersection logged 77 crashes over a 10-year span, including six serious injuries and one fatality, per Burgess & Niple, the engineering firm behind the project. Traffic safety along the corridor has remained a local concern; Hoodline reported in August that a 46-year-old Cincinnati man was killed while riding an e-bike on SR 32, with the driver still missing.
Local officials have also worked to ready nearby land for growth. In late 2023, Mt. Orab and Brown County allocated $249,500 in ARPA funds to extend sewer infrastructure to Tract 416, a 111-acre shovel-ready site near Route 32 designated for commercial and industrial expansion, according to The Brown County Press.
A Growing Hub Along the Appalachian Highway
Mt. Orab itself is a small but expanding Brown County village of roughly 3,600 to 5,000 residents, situated along the four-lane State Route 32 Appalachian Highway about 35 miles east of downtown Cincinnati. That position along a major commuter corridor has helped the village emerge as a regional shopping hub for surrounding Brown County communities.
For now, Mt. Orab Chevrolet customers can still get sales and service at the temporary facility at 210 Gabbard Way while the permanent building takes shape nearby. Once finished, the new structure will complete the auto mall's transformation into a full Big Three truck destination, anchored by the same Cincinnati-area company that started with one Ford lot more than three decades ago.
