For decades, Kari Toyota was part of the rhythm of Tower Avenue.
Customers were familiar with the gray stucco campus with the red business name on the corner of Tower and Broadway. Employees knew the walk between buildings. Technicians knew the quirks of service areas that had been adapted over time, even though the property had never really been designed to function as a car dealership.
That changed Aug. 17, when the family-owned dealership opened its new home at 3223 Belknap St. in Superior’s Billings Park neighborhood, leaving behind its longtime North End location.
The new site, near the base of the Bong Bridge, gives Kari Toyota a larger lot, a pristine, modern building and something employees had wanted for years: sales, service and parts all under one roof.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said parts manager Kerry Smith, who’s been with Kari Toyota since 1986. “This is something we’ve been talking about for years and years and years, and here we are.”
The mid-August move went about as smoothly as it could have.
There were a few hiccups. A couple hoists sprung leaks. Door locks were stubborn. The phone system frayed some nerves because it couldn’t truly be tested until customers started calling.
“You can’t turn that on until the day comes and customers are calling and trying to get ahold of us,” the Kari family’s fourth-generation owner, Chris Kari, said.
Still, he was pleased.
“It went pretty well for such a big move,” Chris said.
The relocation marks a major milestone for a business whose roots date back 93 years. The family business began in 1933, repairing bicycles and other equipment. In 1939, the family opened its first car dealership, selling Studebakers. When Studebaker production ended in 1966, Toyota was just starting to emerge as a major player in the automobile industry.
Jim Kari, Chris’ uncle and a minority owner in the dealership, said the new building helps carry that history forward.
“It’s been unbelievable to see this store get done,” Jim said. “It’ll keep the legacy going even after 93 years.”
Chris is now the majority owner of Kari Toyota, with his father, Wayne Kari, and Jim remaining minority owners. Chris’ wife, Amy, works there as well.
A Move Years in the Making
Together, Chris and Amy purchased the nine-acre Belknap Street property in 2021, on the site of the former Manning Motel and an empty trailer park. For Kari Toyota, it offered something that had become increasingly difficult to find in Superior – room.
“With our inventory, we need a lot of space, and it’s hard to find a lot of space,” Chris said.
It also offered access. Being near one of the bridges was important because about half of Kari Toyota’s business comes from Minnesota.
The timing of the move overlaps with planning for the upcoming closure of the Blatnik Bridge, but Chris said that was not what prompted the relocation.
“We bought the property before they announced the closure of the bridge,” he said.
The real reason, he explained, was that Kari Toyota had outgrown its old digs.
“The Tower Avenue location was never built to be a car dealership, and we needed something better for our customers and our staff,” Chris said.
At the old location, the dealership operated out of multiple buildings. Sales, parts and service were separate, creating daily inefficiencies. Employees sometimes had to walk a block between buildings, even in winter, to ask a question, check on a part or coordinate with another department.
Finance manager Carrie Allen said being together in one building is one of the biggest improvements.
“For us all to be in one building will be really nice,” she said.
Previously, the separation was noticeable even during company gatherings. Allen recalled Christmas parties where she would run into coworkers she barely knew, simply because they worked under different roofs.
Now, the staff is together.
The new building is about 24,000 square feet, comparable to the combined space of the old campus. The difference is in how that space works. The new facility is connected, organized and purpose-built. The service area is brighter, more open and easier for customers to access. The parts department is more efficient. Employees who once spent years separated by buildings now see each other throughout the day.
Chris Kari in his dream location.
Inflation, Delays and a Redesigned Dream
Getting to this point wasn’t easy.
After purchasing the property in 2021, Chris said the family began meeting with architects and engineers. Plans were developed, and the project went out for bid. Then the numbers came back.
The original estimate had been about $7-$8 million. But inflation, supply-chain struggles and rising construction costs changed everything. Chris said the bid came back “grossly higher than we ever dreamed.”
“When that happened, it was like, ‘There’s no way to do this building,’ ” he said. “It wasn’t even close, so we had to pause the project. We had to wait for things to level off, so we could come up with a product that we could build.”
The project eventually moved forward, but only after the building was redesigned. Kari Toyota reduced its size by about 30% from the original plans, yet the final project is still expected to cost about $13 million.
Chris said friends of his opened a dealership near Appleton in 2019. Their building is about 2.5 times the size of Kari Toyota’s new facility, he said, yet it cost less.
“Inflation affects everybody and really was a game-changer for us,” Chris said. “But we found a way to make it happen and to do it well.”
The family had to rethink priorities while keeping the most important pieces of the project intact. Chris said they did not want the new dealership to feel cold or overly corporate. They wanted it to feel welcoming — for customers and employees.
“We didn’t just throw up a building, a pole barn,” he said. “We put a lot of thought and effort into it, to make it aesthetically pleasing, comfortable and a place where customers want to come and where employees want to work. We wanted to do that for our community.”
Much of the store’s vibe, he added, came from Amy’s work with the interior designer.
“I wanted to give it more of a homey feel vs. a business-like feel,” Chris said. “I think we did that pretty well.”
And yes, for a dealership accustomed to talking about new-car smells, the building has its own version.
“We still have that new-building smell,” Allen said.
Chris agreed.
“It does,” he said. “A lot of people have commented on that.”
Built Locally
Kari Toyota broke ground on the new building in August 2025. Arola Architecture, based in Canal Park, designed the building. JR Jensen Construction of Superior served as the general contractor. Many subcontractors were local as well, which was important to the Kari family.
“I really wanted to use local talent because we wanted a building that was designed and built for the Twin Ports,” Chris said. “A lot of the folks that worked on this project live right here in this area.”
Jim called the finished building “a beautiful store.”
“It’s a great thing for the Billings Park neighborhood,” he said.
The move brings new life to a prominent stretch of Belknap Street and transforms a property that had sat underused. It also gives the dealership room for more inventory and future growth while keeping it in Superior, the city where the family business began.
Kari Toyota has been a welcome addition to Billings Park.
“I think it improves the area and gives it a really nice facelift,” said Superior city council president Mike Herrick, who represents the neighborhood in the 8th District. Herrick bought his first brand-new car, a Toyota Corolla, from the dealership in the 1970s.
“That area is really coming alive. It’s the perfect location because you’re right off the Bong Bridge. I’m glad they’re here.”
Kari Toyota has about 40 employees and sold roughly 850 vehicles last year. Allen said the new building may bring more inventory and more customers, but she does not expect it to change the team’s approach.
“We’ve always had a nice, family-friendly dealership,” she said. “They (ownership) do it right, they treat us right, which is why, I think, so many of us have been here for such a long time.”
Allen has been at Kari Toyota for 27 years. Originally from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, she attended the University of Wisconsin-Superior. While she was a student, a finance instructor mentioned that Kari Toyota needed an intern.
“Well, I have the right name (Carrie), so they have to hire me!” she remembers thinking.
She started as assistant finance manager while still at UWS and never left. Her husband, Jeff Allen, has worked at Kari Toyota for 25 years.
The move, she said, has been great, though it was an adjustment.
“When you’ve been at the same desk and looking out in the same direction and seeing the same things for so long, you become accustomed to that,” Allen said. “I love the new building. It’s fabulous, a huge improvement, but when you’ve been somewhere for that long, it’s an adjustment moving into someplace new.”
A One-Day Move, Mostly
The actual move was compressed into a tight timeline. Chris said other dealerships he talked to had closed for two or three days to relocate. Kari Toyota wanted to avoid that.
“We kind of thought we were nuts for trying to do it in one day,” he said.
The process started when the dealership closed early on Friday, Aug. 14. They rented a truck with a lift, loaded toolboxes and equipment, drove to the new building and began setting up. Technicians arranged their areas. The truck made three trips that Friday.
On Saturday, the old location remained open while vehicles started moving to Belknap Street. After closing, the truck returned to the old store for desks and other materials.
By Aug. 17, a Monday, Kari Toyota was open in its new building.
For the final six weeks before the move, Chris spent most of his time at the new site while employees kept the old location operating.
“We have a good crew, so for lack of a better term I could abandon them to maintain operations,” he said. “They didn’t see me much for those last six weeks or so.”
During the first week in the new building, Chris and Amy left at 7:30 p.m. one night, while the sun was still out.
“We felt like we were getting away with something,” he said. “We normally weren’t leaving until after 9 o’clock, and sometimes we were here as late as 1 a.m.”
For longtime employees, the move has meant breaking old habits, even if the benefits are clear.
Smith has been with the company for 40 years. He got his start cleaning the old parts and service building on Ogden Avenue, moved into the parts department in 1987 and became parts manager in 1994.
“I’ve seen a lot of changes over the years,” he said.
For Smith, one of the biggest improvements is convenience. His parts department does not necessarily have more space, he said, but it has smarter space — more organized, condensed and efficient. He’s especially happy to be working so closely with all of his colleagues.
“Our family grew and now we’re all back together again,” Smith said.
The customer experience has improved, too. Customers can drive directly into the service area, where a garage door opens for them. They do not have to get out of their vehicles until they are inside.
“It makes for a really nice experience for the customer,” Smith said.
Keeping Part of the Past
Although Kari Toyota has moved its main dealership from Tower Avenue, the family is keeping part of its past. Chris said the company plans to hold onto the Ogden Avenue building, which dates back to the family’s early dealership years, and use it for business purposes such as detailing.
“There is some nostalgia in that building,” he said.
That connection to history matters. Chris grew up in the business, graduating from Superior High School in 1993 and later from UWS. He began in management in 2003, but his work at the dealership started long before that.
“When you start walking, you start working,” Chris said. “When you’re in the family business, you’re in the business.”
In high school, he washed cars at Kari Toyota. Even now, ownership does not mean stepping away from the everyday work.
“We still come in and wash cars on Sundays if we need to,” Chris said. “It doesn’t matter what our role is as owner, we still do whatever needs to get done.”
Smith said that attitude is one reason employees stay.
“They treat us like family,” he said. “They are so good to us, and I think that’s a direct reflection of why some of us longtime employees have stuck around. They look out for us and, in turn, we look out for the business. It goes hand in hand.”
‘It’s Our Life, Really’
For Chris, Amy and the Kari family, the new building represents years of planning, setbacks and persistence.
“I found a lot of ways to not build this building,” Chris said. “We’d try things and then we’d find out we can’t do this, we can’t do that.”
Now that the dealership is open, the reality is still sinking in.
“Everybody, including my wife and the whole family, it’s been difficult to even grasp that we’re at this spot because we spent years just thinking about getting it done,” Chris said. “We made it happen, which is really gratifying.”
For a family business, he said, the work is more than a job.
“It’s not just our business,” Chris said. “It’s our life, really.”
Louie St. George III is a freelance writer based in Duluth.
