Doug Chevrolet survived the cutback in General Motors dealerships and now is expanding and getting a big makeover.Today, the Green dealership is scheduled to demolish the front of its 35-year-old, red-brick complex to make way for a larger showroom, a customer service waiting area and enclosed service lanes where customers will drop off their vehicles.The new 23,000-square-foot facility on the Arlington Road auto strip is expected to be completed by early March.‘‘This is going to be much more customer friendly,’’ dealer operator Kip Bigelow said. ‘‘Much more convenient.‘‘Now, customers are actually inside the production [service] shop,’’ he said, noting that it ‘‘is noisy and not climate controlled.’’The service shop will not be torn down; it is behind the area slated for demolition today. The new facility — with a metal facade and lots of tall windows — will cost more than $2 million and will replace a 9,000-square-foot space opened in the mid-1970s as Al Thompson Chevrolet.At the time, the area along Arlington boasted little else except a bar, a fast-food eatery and a discount store. Since then, a host of other dealerships have sprouted on what is now an ‘‘auto mile,’’ south of Interstate 77.Bigelow’s father, Doug Bigelow, bought the Chevrolet dealership in 1984 and remains the owner. The family has deep dealership roots, with the first Bigelow General Motors outlet opening in 1911.Kip Bigelow said the expansion comes as GM is requiring dealers to spruce up their buildings to meet minimum ‘‘facility image requirements.’’The automaker’s move comes after it dramatically cut its dealer network.In 2009, GM revealed plans to cancel franchises as part of a massive restructuring. GM, along with Chrysler, eventually went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.Bigelow said Doug Chevrolet could have met the facility standards with renovations. ‘‘But,’’ he said, ‘‘we elected to go all the way and take down the old structure and build a modern-day facility.‘‘It was time. We had outgrown our space.’’The dealership employs about 70 full- and part-time workers. Employment is expected to increase with the opening of the new facility.The sales staff will work out of a triplewide trailer during construction. Bigelow said that the dealership’s sales have grown even during the weak economy. A good portion of the increase is due to ‘‘aggressive Internet marketing,’’ he said.Sales manager Chuck Keim noted the dealership also has used the Internet to boost sales of used vehicles. The dealer has roughly 300 used vehicles at any one time, up from about 120 just a few years ago.Katie Byard can be reached at 330-997-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.