H2M completes Long Island's first smart car dealership

H2M, a multi-disciplined engineering and architectural service firm has recently completed work on the development, design and renovation of the Mercedes-Benz of Smithtown and Smart Center. Both dealerships are members of the 6-member Competition Automotive Group, founded in 1962. The H2M team renovated an existing facility for Long Island's first smart car location. Popular in Europe, Mercedes-Benz and DaimlerChrysler took on the challenging U.S. market by bringing in one of their most innovative cars ever in an effort to help protect the environment through reduced energy consumption, thereby conserving our natural resources. Since its introduction in October 1998, nearly 800,000 people in 36 countries have made the smart car the "in" car for fuel-efficient urban transportation. The new smart car was released in Europe in April 2007 and is now available on Long Island with the help of H2M, the architects for the dealership. Robert Scheiner, AIA, sr. vice president of H2M said, "Smart car gave H2M a very tight design schedule. It is especially rewarding to bring smart car to Long Island and deliver such an innovative car to the market on time." In addition, H2M is sensitive to the configurations required along with the level of quality of finished materials. Michael Bonacasa, AIA, studio director & senior architect, Robert Ikes, III, R.A., studio manager & project architect and Mina Mirzaei, project coordinator, all worked on the dealership design.