RV Dealer Rolls to New Home Beside Freeway : Motor homes: Mike Thompson’s RV Super Stores moves from Irvine’s Traveland U.S.A. The new location fronting I-405 in Fountain Valley will bring a sales-tax windfall to the city.

Orange County’s only dealer in several lines of Fleetwood recreational vehicles has parked at a new location in Fountain Valley.

Mike Thompson’s RV Super Stores opened July 29, relocating a 12-year-old operation from Irvine’s Traveland U.S.A. to a four-acre site fronting the San Diego Freeway.

The company, with headquarters in Santa Fe Springs, also has dealerships there and in Colton, both with freeway frontage.

said the dealership, which sells trailers and motor homes, signed a 20-year ground lease.

Burnham had previously negotiated with Sunset Motors, which also had a recreational vehicle dealership at the Traveland U.S.A. RV mall, but that deal fell through.

“We discontinued our negotiations, and we began entertaining new dealers for the property,” Burnham said.

Officials at Traveland U.S.A. said Wednesday that Sunset Motors closed its operations at Traveland earlier this year.

Frank De Gelas, president of Mike Thompson’s RV Super Stores, said the 21-year-old company, which sells only Fleetwood motor homes, had 1992 sales of $62 million at its three locations. De Gelas said the company is Fleetwood’s largest dealer.

De Gelas said the company has grown every year through the recession, increasing by 18.5% over the last two years.

“Our claim to fame is our long-term outlook of aligning ourselves with a manufacturer and also our customer service and relations,” De Gelas said.

The Fountain Valley dealership is expected to post $22 million to $25 million in annual sales--a windfall for the city in sales-tax revenue, Burnham said.

The new location is off to a good start, De Gelas said. “We sold 33 units the first weekend, 22 the second weekend.”

As for Fountain Valley, city officials can expect to reap an additional $220,000 to $250,000 a year in revenue with no investment, Burnham and De Gelas both estimated. The property is in a redevelopment project area, but no redevelopment funds were used to bring the dealership to town.

The city had offered redevelopment financing to Sunset Motors, officials said, but no money was ever paid.

“We didn’t lose anything,” said Andrew Perea, Fountain Valley’s planning services manager.

Burnham said his company spent about $750,000 to make improvements to the property. Those included paving the site, installing lighting and renovating an existing building into offices.

De Gelas said the RV company plans to make another $300,000 worth of improvements to add decorative fencing, install a freeway sign and build a 7,500-square-foot “prep center” to get RVs ready for delivery to customers.

The Fountain Valley dealership will stock about 125 RVs ranging in price from $12,000 for trailers to $205,000 for top-of-the-line motor homes, De Gelas said.

The Fleetwood line includes Bounder, Flair, Southwind, Pace Arrow and American Eagle motor homes and Tioga mini-motor homes. Prices start at $30,000 for the mini-homes.

The dealership also carries two lines of trailers made by Riverside-based Fleetwood Enterprises as well as several lines by Nu Wa Industries in Chanute, Kan.

De Gelas said the company recently changed its name from RV Centers to RV Super Stores because the dealership is offering such a broad selection. The brands that it stocks, he said, account for 42% of U.S. motor-home sales.