Carvana Reconditioning Center

[Pete]

Carvana planning huge OKC facility with 400 jobs

Online used auto retailer Carvana is planning a 102-acre vehicle inspection and reconditioning center near Will Rogers Airport.

Typical Carvana reconditioning center

Plans obtained by OKCTalk show a 190,000 square foot structure along with space to process and store 10,000 vehicles.

The Arizona-based company has approximately ten similar facilities throughout the United States which serve as regional hubs for cars they have acquired.

Reconditioning centers put each vehicle through a 150-point inspection process and minor body repair to ready it for sale. Once a vehicle is certified, the company uses automated photo booths that capture a 360-degree exterior and interior virtual tour of each vehicle which is uploaded to the company’s website.

360-degree photo booth

Oklahoma City became Carvana's 30th U.S. market in 2017 when local residents became able to take home delivery of any of the company's vehicles. The company went public and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange that same year and now serves over 250 markets across the country.

In November of 2019, Carvana opened its only vending machine in the state on Memorial Road just east of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Carvana facility at 1800 W. Memorial

Typically, no sales are conducted at inspection and reconditioning centers, and the public is not able to go there to pick up a vehicle.

Cars are stored on the site until delivered to a buyer’s home, a designated location, or to one of the company’s signature automobile-dispensing towers.

The proposed location is a large tract at 5500 S. Rockwell and currently occupied by an oilfield supply company. Other Carvana centers of this size employ approximately 400 employees and require a $25 million investment.

Site plan for proposed facility

[Dob Hooligan]

I think this is a good thing for Oklahoma City. A property with great railway and roadway access that will get a pretty decent investment in facilities, which should provide more (and more stable) jobs than were at this location before.

Another example of a benefit of OKC being the crossroads of America.

[Pete]

That area around the airport has become a massive distribution hub, with Hobby Lobby, soon to be 3 huge Amazon facilities, this facility and tons of smaller warehouse properties.

The turnpike extension no doubt helped land this Carvana project.

[ChrisHayes]

Working at Hobby Lobby, I've driven by this property countless times in the past 5 years and welcome a change for it. Is this a done deal, or is this just something they're looking to do?

[Pete]

Working at Hobby Lobby, I've driven by this property countless times in the past 5 years and welcome a change for it. Is this a done deal, or is this just something they're looking to do?

Nothing is never done until it's done, but usually when it gets to the stage of specific plans, odds are very high of it going through.

[Teo9969]

Nothing is never done until it's done, but usually when it gets to the stage of specific plans, odds are very high of it going through.

Have we had a "warehouse" deal fall through in the last decade? I can't think of any but I admittedly don't pay much attention to those.

[mugofbeer]

Yes, someone can fill in the name but at the moment there is very little available warehouse/distribution land that has utilities already installed around town. There was mention here, l think, a company went elsewhere because the utilities installation would take too long.

[gopokes88]

This is a very good get. Probably involves a fair amount of blue collar mechanic jobs with a pretty decent hourly wage. $30-$40/hr for experienced mechanics if I had to guess. $15-$25 for the younger guys.

[catch22]

I think you are a little optimistic about those wages. That exceeds aircraft mechanic pay at Tinker.

[catch22]

My neighbor is a fleet mechanic for the USPS and their top out pay is around $26 an hour.

[Dob Hooligan]

I think these wage comments draw attention to the question of benefits. Tinker and USPS are government, or government structured, enterprises. They might have better job security, time off, pension or health benefits which could make the total package more per hour.

I would guess Tinker and USPS have a limited variety of vehicles their techs are working on versus a Carvana reconditioning center. Which I would think will see over 100 different make and model vehicles in a given year. Which requires a different skill set.

I do think Carvana is going to run in the $15-25/hr range. With a few going up to $30 or a little higher.

[Jersey Boss]

23-30 /hr.

Hourly wage for CARVANA CO. Automotive Service Technician /Mechanic II | Salary.com
https://www.salary.com/research/sala...i-hourly-wages

[PoliSciGuy]

Random question - is that massive lot covered? If not, that's pretty risky given our propensity for hailstorms

[Jersey Boss]

I think you are a little optimistic about those wages. That exceeds aircraft mechanic pay at Tinker.

In 2018 wages were over 60k per year. Plus benefits.

Aircraft Mechanic Salary Statistics
https://www.federalpay.org/employees...craft-mechanic

[SouthOfTheVillage]

I was under the impression we had hit Peak Car / Oil and that TaaS was on the verge of taking over the Sector, but I’m glad to see Carvana disagrees. Definitely a good get for the City.

[Pete]

I was under the impression we had hit Peak Car / Oil and that TaaS was on the verge of taking over the Sector, but I’m glad to see Carvana disagrees. Definitely a good get for the City.

Someone has to buy and sell all those used cars.

[David]

Random question - is that massive lot covered? If not, that's pretty risky given our propensity for hailstorms

It looks entirely covered to me in the site plan Pete posted.

[HOT ROD]

I think this is a good thing for Oklahoma City. A property with great railway and roadway access that will get a pretty decent investment in facilities, which should provide more (and more stable) jobs than were at this location before.

Another example of a benefit of OKC being the crossroads of America.

as I've said before!!

[Pete]

A building permit application was filed today.

Work should be starting soon.

[Pete]

Work has started on this project.

[Pete]

They are not messing around on getting this done. Looks like they could be operational very soon.

[Laramie]

Decent salaries & wages for the Oklahoma City market: Average CARVANA Customer Advocate hourly pay in Oklahoma City is approximately $15.99, which meets the national average. July 27, 2021

[Pete]

Look at the size of this facility:

[Anonymous.]

Holy asphalt. Someone do the math on how many cars can fit on that area. It looks like they are stacking them 4 deep per full diagonal strip.

[Pete]

Where are they getting all these cars to sell?

It looks like the capacity at that facility is in the tens of thousands.