Sweeney Dealerships Consider Purchase Offer from Pittsburgh Auto Group

BOARDMAN, Ohio – A longtime family-owned auto group is in discussions to sell its dealerships to a Pittsburgh entity, sources confirm.

Sweeney Chevrolet and Sweeney Buick GMC is expected to issue a press release with additional details regarding a potential sale to #1 Cochran Automotive, said Alexa Sweeney Blackann, Sweeney president, around 3 p.m. Monday. As of Tuesday morning, no additional information had been released.

#1 Cochran owns more than 20 dealerships and collision shops across western Pennsylvania.  The Sweeney acquisitions would be the group’s first retail stores in Ohio.

Should the sale close, it would be the second family-owned new vehicle dealership in Boardman to sell to a larger, regional auto group in less than a month. In November, the Taylor family sold off its Kia stores in Boardman and Alliance to Ken Ganley Companies, the largest auto group in Ohio.

The Sweeney dealership got its start as Stearns Motor Co. in 1921 and acquired the Buick franchise in the 1930s. One of the dealership’s partners, Gene Hopper, eventually came to be the leader of the Youngstown dealership and brought his brother-in-law, Arthur Sweeney, into the organization.

Arthur’s son, Robert, later joined the business, which became Buick Youngstown. In 1955, the business opened State Chevrolet on Wick Avenue. Robert’s sons, Doug and Dave, eventually joined the business, and Doug took over State Chevrolet in 1981. Dave Sweeney later assumed control of the GMC, Buick and Pontiac operations, which moved to Boardman in 1986. The Sweeneys purchased Spartan Chevrolet in Boardman in 2004.

The brothers worked together until 2009, when Dave moved West and his interest in the company was bought out. 

Doug’s daughter, Alexa Sweeney Blackann, became president of Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC in late 2020.

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