Center Point auto dealership buys dealership in Newhall

NEWHALL — The owners of Sky Auto Mall in Center Point have bought Van Horn Ford and Van Horn Chevrolet in Newhall.

Jeff Niesen, president of the Wisconsin-based Van Horn Automobile Group, which owned the Newhall dealerships, said Mark Shackelford Sr. and Mark Shackelford Jr. reached out to him about selling the Newhall dealerships.

“With these stores being outside of the rest of our platform, I told them we would entertain an offer, which would allow us to reinvest and fuel our continued growth in Wisconsin,” Niesen said in a news release from Performance Brokerage Services.

They found a buyer in Yelena Tostanovsky and her son, Alex, owners of Sky Auto Mall in Center Point, which sells Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram vehicles.

The Tovstanovsky family came to the United States as first-generation immigrants, arriving with nothing but a strong desire to succeed.

In July 2021, Yelena and Alex Tovstanovsky bought Sky Auto Mall in Center Point.

“We’re excited to help Alex Tovstanovsky and his family expand in Iowa by adding two more franchises and their first Chevrolet store,” Mark Shackelford Sr. said.

Van Horn Ford and Van Horn Chevrolet will be renamed Sky Ford and Sky Chevrolet. The dealerships will remain at their current location at 7300 28th Avenue in Newhall.

The Van Horn Automotive Group was founded in 1966 when Joe Van Horn, his wife, Kay, and their six children moved from Chicago to Ply-mouth, Wis., and bought Wagner Chevrolet.

In 2002, the business expanded, opening its first dealership in Oconomowoc, Wis. The group continued to grow throughout Wisconsin, and in 2017, it expanded outside the state with the acquisition of a dealership in Newhall, a city of 876 in Benton County west of Cedar Rapids.

In 2016, Van Horn Automotive Group transitioned to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), becoming the only employee-owned automotive group in Wisconsin.

In 2020, Jeff Niesen, grandson of the founder, became president of the company.

Under his leadership, the company expanded its footprint to 17 dealerships employing more than 750 people.