Tennessee Titans owner sells remaining 3 dealerships

KSA Industries Inc., a diversified holding company that owns the NFL's Tennessee Titans, this spring sold its three dealerships, in two separate transactions, and appears to have exited auto retail.

KSA Industries is the privately held family business of late founder Bud Adams. The Titans have roots in Houston, where they were known as the Houston Oilers.

Besides the football team, Adams' holdings included a handful of new-car dealerships since the 1960s, plus agriculture, oil and gas, and real estate.

"Bud Adams was very diversified in his holdings, which turned out to be a good thing in his lifetime," Randy Scofield, president of KSA Industries, told Automotive News. "Some years, cars might be up and football might be down, or California agriculture might be up and oil and gas were down."

Adams died in 2013.

KSA Industries is selling some assets to raise cash, after winning approval in April for a new Nashville stadium to replace Nissan Stadium. It is expected to cost at least $1.9 billion and be paid for through a mix of private and public funding.

Selling dealerships

KSA Industries on April 6 sold two Lincoln stores. In that transaction, Chris Poulos went from general manager to owner, buying West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugar Land, both in Houston.

The dealership names remain.

Poulos said he was general manager of West Point Lincoln for 18 years and general manager of West Point Lincoln of Sugar Land since it was built in 2019.

Scofield said he was happy Poulos — who is chairman of the Lincoln National Dealer Council — bought the dealerships.

"It was important to us that Chris got this opportunity and that everybody kept their jobs — that was very important," Scofield said.

In a second transaction, on May 2, KSA Industries sold West Point Buick-GMC in Houston to dealer Tom Durant, owner of Classic Auto Group. That store was renamed Classic Elite Buick-GMC.

Poulos said he was general manager for the three dealerships, located in booming neighborhoods outside of downtown Houston.

"Southwest and west is where everybody is moving, because there's enough land for development," he said.

Bank of America advised KSA Industries in the sale of the dealerships, Poulos said.