Jack Matia retiring, Honda dealership sold to Great Lakes Auto Group

ELYRIA — Jack Matia is retiring from the auto dealer business, and sold his Honda dealership on Leona Street to Great Lakes Auto Group last week. The dealership on Leona Street that bore Matia's name now will be known as Great Lakes Honda West, its new owner said Friday. Matia, 62, said he bought his first Chevrolet store 32 years ago and has been selling cars in Lorain County "for a long time." "I just decided it was time," he said Friday. "I'm Lorain County, born and raised, and I loved having a business in Elyria. It was great, the community's been great to me and it's been a good run, but it's time to relax and enjoy my family." Growing up in Grafton and Elyria, Matia graduated from Elyria Catholic High School in 1975. He opened Jack Matia Chevrolet at East Broad Street and state Route 57 in 1991, and bought the Honda dealership in 1995. Matia later sold the Chevrolet dealership to the North Olmsted-based Sunnyside in 2011, and it became Sunnyside Chevrolet. A 1975 graduate of Elyria Catholic High School, Matia has long supported Catholic education in the community, including the school's annual car giveaway. He and fellow EC alumni Jim Herrick of Liberty Ford in Vermilion and Nick Abraham of Nick Abraham Ford in Elyria each used to donate a car to the giveaway before "it got too expensive," so in recent years they each put up one-third the cost of a car and donated it to the high school. "It's unusual to have three car dealers graduate from the same high school, and we decided to do that together," Matia said. "And it's worked out great. All the schools need help nowadays, and I don't mind helping." The new owner and president of Great Lakes Auto Group, Joseph Huang, was born and raised in Ashtabula. He trained to be a dentist at Ohio State University, and first sold cars as a summer job, he said. "I fell in love with the business, and 21 years ago I bought my first Chevrolet store," Huang said Friday. Huang said he has known Matia for some years and was looking to buy another store when he heard Matia planned to retire. Great Lakes has six dealerships from Ashtabula to Columbus and this, the seventh, is their first on the west side of Cleveland, Huang said. Along with Chevrolet and Honda, he also has properties selling Buick/GMC, Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram, Hyundai and Kia products. The change in ownership has generated some controversy that will be decided in a Lorain County courtroom. Sunnyside and owner Kirtlund Frye filed a lawsuit in Lorain County Common Pleas Court on Jan. 21 to stop American Honda Motor Co. and Matia from selling the dealership to Huang. The suit alleges that Matia entered into an agreement with Matia to buy the dealership and its inventory in May 2019, but American Honda Motor Co. rejected the sale. Sunnyside filed a protest with the Ohio Motor Vehicle Dealers Board, but Matia and Huang completed the sale with American Honda Motor Co.'s approval while it was pending. Judge John Miraldi denied Sunnyside's request for a restraining order preventing the sale on Jan. 24, and a further hearing is set Feb. 5 in his courtroom, according to court records. Matia said he had no comment on the pending lawsuit. Huang said Great Lakes Honda, on state Route 8 in Akron, is the No. 1 store for volume in Northeast Ohio and "we hope to continue those great numbers in Elyria." He said the dealership's location right off Interstate 90 and the Ohio Turnpike is an easy location to reach but still has a small-town feel. "We know there's good people here in Lorain County similar to Ashtabula where I grew up," he said. "It's a gorgeous dealership with a beautiful reputation and we're looking to continue that relationship." For his part, Matia said Lorain County will remain his home. "It's been my home and I've loved serving the community. I've enjoyed it all these years, and I'm going to continue enjoying it, just in a little different way," he said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him @daveobrienCT on Twitter.