Tesla plans to open Sonoma County service center, store

Work has started to transform a former furniture showroom in northwest Santa Rosa’s furniture retail district into a Tesla service center and store.

The Austin, Texas-based electric vehicle maker signed a 10-year lease for a 32,000-square-foot space at 3286 Airway Drive on May 20, according to the building owner and deal broker.

A tenant-improvement building permit for a service center and “gallery” — what the company calls stores — was issued in September to contractor Dynamic Trades Inc., according to city records. The project architecture firm is ArcVision.

Tesla currently has North Bay service centers in Corte Madera, San Rafael and Vallejo, and “gallery” stores at the Corte Madera and Vallejo locations.

Of the 1,841 new battery-powered electric vehicles registered in Sonoma County in the first nine months of this year, 57% were Tesla models, according to California Energy Commission data. For all of last year, Tesla vehicles accounted for 60% of the 1,990 EVs newly registered locally.

Stephen Skinner of Keegan & Coppin Co. Inc. represented building owner Airway Partners LLC (an affiliate of Turo Partners LLC) in the lease transaction. Alexander Somerville of CBRE represented Tesla.

San Francisco-based Turo had purchased the building in May 2021.

Contact North Bay Business Journal reporter Jeff Quackenbush at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.