Les Schwab Tire Center

By this point, I was fully entrenched with Les Schwab Tires as one of their two preferred developers, actively scouting multiple states to stay ahead of their growth. Cody, Wyoming was a market I knew they needed. The west side of town near Walmart had the strongest retail pull, along with larger parcel sizes that gave me a real shot at finding something big enough to make a Les Schwab work.

Like most of my deals, nothing was listed. So I did what I do.

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Just west of Walmart was a large tract that checked the boxes. It wasn’t for sale. I tracked down ownership and found it was controlled by a hotel developer.

This was during COVID, when hotel development had slowed. That created an opening. I made the call.

We connected right away. He had planned two hotels on the site, but was already rethinking that. We quickly aligned on carving off just enough land to make the deal work. We came to terms fast.

Les Schwab toured the site, loved it, and we moved through the lease quickly. Then came the real challenge.

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Because we were buying a portion of a larger parcel that was still going to be developed, everything from access to shared improvements had to be coordinated. The original plan was for the seller to install those improvements and have Les Schwab reimburse their share.

On paper, it worked. In reality, it created timing risk.

If those improvements weren’t completed on time, Les Schwab’s construction would be delayed. In Cody, missing a construction window can push a project out months.

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I pushed early for a cost-sharing agreement to get ahead of it. When it stalled, I had my attorney draft it to get the process moving and give Les Schwab’s legal team something to react to.

That helped, but by then winter had set in, and the installation window had closed.

Waiting on the seller would have delayed the project. So Les Schwab pivoted. They took control of installing the shared improvements themselves and structured reimbursement with the seller after the fact.

It took time to get everything aligned, but once it was, the project moved quickly. Plans were completed. Improvements were installed. Construction started.

Today, the store is open and operating in one of the best locations in the market. A site that wasn’t for sale became exactly what the market needed.

J. Clint Jameson, CDP