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Finally, a replacement for the former Harley-Davidson dealership on West Kellogg

Carrie Rengers/The Wichita Eagle

Not quite two decades after the west-side Harley-Davidson store left for Park City, a new business is moving into the 12,000-square-foot building at 7800 W. Kellogg.

This time, it’s a used car dealership.

“We are putting our fourth store there,” Jill Hattan said.

She has Don Hattan Chevrolet in Park City, which is the store her grandfather, Don Hattan started in 1949.

Every time Hattan opens a new dealership, she said she likes to say, “Wichita’s oldest dealership is now the newest as well.”

And Hattan likes opening dealerships.

When she took over for her father, Jim Hattan, as dealer principal in 2010 — after being general manager since 2002 — Jill Hattan said, “I vowed I was going to provide those opportunities for our people. . . . That’s been a big driver for me.”

The reason she chose West Kellogg for this dealership is she already has so many west-side customers.

“The west-side zip codes are some of our top zip codes as far as doing business with our other stores,” Hattan said. “It’s a more convenient option for them.”

In addition to the Park City store, Hattan has Don Hattan Ford in Augusta and Don Hattan Derby.

“We’re north, south, east and west now,” she said.

The west store will open in January.

Initially, it will have 80 to 100 vehicles on the lot, but there’s room for more. Hattan said it’s a matter of building up inventory.

Like the Derby dealership, Hattan wants the new one to have parts and service as well, but before that can happen, she needs to find enough workers.

“They’re so hard to find.”

She said she wants to build “a stellar team from the ground up.”

“I think that does excite some people to be in on the start of something.”

Hattan is selling used cars instead of new ones because of prohibitions against franchises being too close to each other, and there’s none available that she’d want to open.

Along with the new dealership, Hattan will remodel the one in Augusta concurrently, which she said is a challenge in a pandemic, but she wants to “make sure that all of our facilities are top notch.”

The former Harley-Davidson building is a recognizable one, Hattan said.

“Everybody seems to know it.”

She’s replacing the Harley orange with her dealerships’ signature blue and gray.

In addition to being interested in more car dealerships, Hattan said she’s working on another project as well.

“It’s not a car dealership.”

That’s all she’s saying for now, but she said to look for more announcements down the road.