Riverside Auto Center undergoes renovation

Riverside Auto Center is undergoing a renovation.

Owners Bill and Linda Hiatt, and their children Bill Hiatt Jr. and Wendy Hawks have been sprucing up the dealership’s main building and service department.

Bill Hiatt Jr. said the last time serious renovations were done was under his grandfather in the 1970s. There was some work done to the main building in 1993; the current remodeling is a first for the service department in decades.

“I thought it was time to upgrade the building,” Bill Hiatt Jr. said.

This project has involved repainting and re-carpeting.

In the service department, new walls and flooring were installed. There is also a nicer waiting room for customers.

Service manager Ed Frank said the renovation is more inviting to customers, and pleasing to visitors to the downtown.

The third phase of the renovation will include painting the outside of the building and adding fascia in a yet-to-be-determined color.

The renovation of Riverside Auto Center mirrors downtown Bonners Ferry. Bill Hiatt Jr. noted the renovations of the downtown were a catalyst in refurbishing of the dealership.

“The whole town and business community has really been coming together and helping bring business to town,” he said.

Riverside employs 24. The Hiatts have owned Riverside for 36 years.