Auto Baron Ernie Boch Buys Historic 33-Acre Simoni’s Flowers Property on Route 1 for $4.48M-November 5, 1993

Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce Predicts Economic Boost as Auto Mile Pioneer Expands

The local economy will suffer little with the closing of Simoni’s Flowers on Route 1, the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce predicts. But businesses along the highway will benefit if auto baron Ernie Boch, who bought the Simoni property, opens a dealership on the site, David Mahn of the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce said yesterday. Mahn called Boch’s new acquisition very valuable property because of its prime location. “The site is better suited for selling cars than growing flowers”, he said. “I have no idea what Ernie is going to use it for, but the concept of Auto Mile began here”, he said. “It was a tremendous advertising concept. Everyone knows the Auto Mile”.

The 33-acre property, for which Boch paid $4.48 million a week ago, is smack in the middle of the Auto Mile, the multi-car-dealership strip on Route 1 that arguably put Norwood on the map. Boch reportedly plans to use the property, which is bordered by Route 1 and Neponset Street, for a showcase dealership.

Boch owns Oldsmobile, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Subaru dealerships along Route 1 and has become a household name. Three years ago, he decided to buy the houses behind his Toyota dealership after neighbors complained about traffic and noise for years. Last year, the town thwarted a plan by Boch and Boston rock station WBCN-FM to drop a piano from a 100-foot crane at one of Boch’s dealerships.

The Simoni family was thrown into the spotlight with the shooting death of Brian Simoni‘s wife, Susan, in December 1989 at the Mall at Walpole. An investigation initially focused on Brian Simoni as a suspect, but no arrests have been made to date and the killing remains unsolved. In July 1990, a suspicious fire destroyed brick and wooden buildings the Simonis used as a wholesale office.

The Simonis’ nursery remained a familiar landmark on the Route 1 landscape for 70 years. Brian Simoni ran the family business with two brothers. The Simonis have not returned phone calls all week seeking comment on the sale. He was in Canada yesterday and could not be reached for comment.

The Simoni-Boch deal links two of the most high-profile names in town. Meanwhile, speculation about their reasons for selling has set the community abuzz. It just seems as though their heart has not been in it since the tragic death of Brian Simoni’s wife, Mahn said. “It’s taken a lot out of them. It’s a very heavy, horrible event to go through and it would affect anyone”. Mahn said the nursery’s closing results in some lost jobs, although he did not know how many. But he speculated that Boch will probably hire a greater number of people.

Rock Gulla runs Shrubs Inc., a bark mulch and loam business on a portion of the Simoni property that he rents. Yesterday, Gulla refused to talk about the sale and what it means to his business.

Mahn said the main change will be that Simoni’s customers will have to shop elsewhere. People have been used to going there for years, so they’ll have to change their buying patterns, Mahn said. But the managers of two other local flower shops said they have been getting Simoni’s customers for a while and expect to benefit even more now.

Paul McManus, owner of McManus’ Country Gardens, said he set out to seize a good chunk of the area’s flower market since taking over his business two years ago. We’re a full-service florist like Simoni was, he said. Renato Pacheco, manager of Frank’s Crafts and Nursery on Route 1, said his store not only gets Simoni’s former customers, but he has also hired two of their former employees.

Frank’s, which opened in August, is across from Boch’s Oldsmobile dealership. Auto Mile dealers pool money to advertise collectively. The rationale behind advertising together stems from the belief that a greater number of dealerships in a small area attracts a much larger crowd of prospective buyers; Customers shop around and dealers benefit from the people attracted to the area by the competition. It’s like going to a shopping mall, said Giuliano Buccini, general manager of Tom Chevrolet-Geo-Hyundai.

Stressing that he does not know what Boch plans for the Simoni site, Buccini said a new dealership next door would benefit him. It will create a lot more traffic, he said. Devincq Sullivan, sales manager at Central Chrysler Plymouth Jeep Eagle, agreed. Although all the dealers compete for the same dollars, they benefit from the browsers that their competitors attract, he said. Competition is good, as far as the Auto Mile is concerned, he said. Besides attracting customers, another dealership along the Auto Mile would mean an increase in advertising dollars, Sullivan said. Boch does attract a lot of people, he said. He advertises by himself a lot.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger