Residents have already seen large amounts of construction at the southeast corner of Central Expressway and Bray Central Drive recently, but the project has remained a mystery—until now.

Mercedes-Benz of McKinney, a 75,000-square-foot, $32 million project, is set to open in late summer 2016 and initially bring 1,600 new vehicles, 125 new jobs and a “serious investment” into the community, said Scott Smith, co-founder, CEO and president of Sonic Automotive.

“It’s a premium brand, and we really feel that if you are going to invest $30 million in something it has to be a great brand, in a great location, in a great market,” he said. “It is one of the fastest-growing markets in America, and we are thrilled to be moving into McKinney.”

Smith, whose company is one of the largest automotive retailers in the country,  said the McKinney location is the largest open point in the United States. An open point is an area where manufacturers feel there is a large opportunity to serve the community with their brand and where there is not a nearby competing dealer of the same brand. The closest Mercedes-Benz dealership is in Plano.

Sonic Automotive has completely overhauled the car-buying experience with a strong focus on customer relations, Smith said. One Sonic-One Experience will bring technology to the forefront by allowing dealerships to sync customer information throughout the country at all 107 Sonic Automotive dealerships—including Lute Riley Honda and North Central Ford in Richardson.

“It’s a very open, transparent model,” Smith said. “We will build the technology into the facility so that when we are ready to roll out the processes, we won’t have to renovate and start all over. It is a model where our sales people are not paid on commissions; they are paid salary. They are really there to help and guide customers rather than just sell them a car. We want to build a customer-centric model. There is no one else in the industry doing it, and we will be rolling out our One Sonic-One Experience [model] in the Texas region soon.”

The model includes technology upgrades to inventory management and pricing tools as well as a “customer-centric” customer relationship management tool. The company has been developing the program since 2007.

Smith said he has other plans for McKinney as well, including a possible future preowned location, though no specific plans have been released at this time.