A large Virginia-based auto group announced it would absorb a pair of Baltimore County car dealerships Wednesday, bolstering an empire of car enterprises to 29 throughout Maryland and Virginia.

Sheehy Auto Stores will acquire Bill Kidd’s Volvo Cars Hunt Valley and Bill Kidd’s Toyota Timonium. The acquisition strengthens Sheehy’s presence in Maryland and includes a 45,000-square-foot service center and two car showrooms with a combined 24,463 square feet.

Toyota stores have been particularly attractive to car dealerships locally and nationally because of their customer brand loyalty. Earlier this year, auto retailer Group 1 Automotive announced they would expand into the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area through acquisitions that included Toyota dealerships. Sheehy’s portfolio also includes similarly attractive car brands like Honda, Lexus and Nissan.

Bill Kidd’s has been locally owned and operated by three generations of the same family for more than 60 years. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The sale comes as retail property sales decline in the Baltimore area, according to a report from MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate, a firm that studies local real estate markets. By the second quarter of 2024, interest rates and consumer goods costs were still high, and people generally spent less. Commercial real estate vacancies and rental rates are still above pre-pandemic levels, MacKenzie data shows.

This acquisition marks Sheehy Auto Stores’ commitment to enhancing the car purchasing process in the region, said Vince Sheehy, the president of the Fairfax, Virginia-based auto dealership group. The company plans to retain Lisa Kidd, the general manager of the Baltimore County dealerships, and much of the existing staff to “provide a smooth transition and maintain strong community ties,” according to a statement released Wednesday.

Near Baltimore, Sheehy also owns Sheehy Nissan of Glen Burnie, Sheehy Toyota of Laurel, and Sheehy Infiniti and Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis.