The land and building that have housed the landmark C.R. Sparks restaurant and event center have been sold to Group 1 Automotive Inc., a Fortune 500 car retailer based in Houston, Texas.

The deal is the latest move in a high-priced game of economic musical chairs that has developers, retailers and other businesses jockeying for the best position in a dense commercial corridor that stretches from the Interstate 293-Everett Turnpike split to the Kilton Road exit off Route 101.

Group 1 Automotive purchased the 4.5-acre site and C.R. Sparks complex on June 16 for $5 million, according to the Hillsborough County Registry of Deeds. The restaurant and event center will remain in place for the rest of the year as a tenant, according to Chuck Rolecek, the owner. Then the businesses – the C.R. Sparks Restaurant and Bar as well as The Event Center – will have to move.

Group 1 Automotive wants to tear down the 200-seat restaurant and attached 400-seat event center and build a state-of-the-art Lexus dealership within two to three years, said Pete DeLongchamps, a vice president of the company.

“This will be a first-class facility with all the amenities Lexus customers are accustomed to,” DeLongchamps said. “This will be a very nice building.” Those amenities will range from a coffee bar and private lounges to wireless Internet access and other business-like surroundings.

The Lexus dealership will be moving to Bedford from its current location on 33 Auto Center Road, off South Willow Street in Manchester. The dealership, Ira Lexus of Manchester, shares the facility with Ira Toyota of Manchester. Group 1 Automotive acquired both dealerships in June 2006.

The need for more space was the main factor in the decision to seek a new location, DeLongchamps said. The C.R. Sparks site, he added, is the most convenient for the Lexus customer base. He said the location matched the luxury demographic the car retailer is after.

The Lexus cars that will be for sale will be for a range of customers. On the low end will be the Lexus IS for $30,000. The most expensive car will be the LS 460 Hybrid, priced at $100,000.

Some residential neighbors of C.R. Sparks have expressed dismay that the popular restaurant and destination event center is leaving the area. DeLongchamps said the Lexus business would not let them down, saying other Group 1 dealerships in the country have built good relationships with their communities.

“We do the right thing in the communities,” DeLongchamps said. “I think at the end of the day the people of Bedford will be happy to have us as their Lexus dealership.”

In the short-term, not much will change for C.R. Sparks. Rolecek said people who had booked events up to the end of 2008 need not worry about making other plans.

“We’re honoring absolutely all our commitments,” Rolecek said. “We’re going to do all our functions through the holiday season.”

After that, it remains to be seen what will happen to C.R. Sparks. Rolecek has said he is open to remodeling an existing facility or building a new one. Most of the new sites he is examining are in Bedford. At least one is in Concord. It is not likely that the restaurant and event center will share the same space in the future, Rolecek said.

“We’re continuing to look for a new home for C.R. Sparks and The Event Center,” he said. “It’s been very difficult finding locations for either of the two that aren’t building from the ground up.”

Rolecek hopes to stay in Bedford. He has expressed interest in one site right around the corner for his restaurant – the Macy’s department store, where a Massachusetts developer wants to tear down half of the Quality Inn and build a larger parking lot, two retail buildings and a grocery store.

Speculation among commercial retailers has swirled over the identity of the grocer. Dan Scanlon, a retail investment broker with Grubb & Ellis Coldstream Real Estate Advisors Inc., in Bedford, said the 45,000-square-foot site indicated that the developer, Packard Development, might be eyeing Whole Foods Market, a chain founded in Austin, Texas, known for its natural and organic foods.

“The size of the space they have set aside fits the profile of Whole Foods in terms of square footage,” Scanlon said. “In my opinion it all fits together.” Whole Foods Market is linked with Packard in another development of a shopping center in Nashua. That store would be its first location in New Hampshire, according to the Whole Foods Web site.

Scanlon said he has spoken with a real estate broker in Boston who works for Whole Foods Market, pitching other sites in New Hampshire. The broker replied that the Texas grocer soon would be announcing a new store that would meet the needs of the Manchester region. Robin Rehfield, the north Atlantic public relations manager, said it’s company policy to not comment on sites for future Whole Foods stores.

Rolecek also has named the Wayfarer Convention Center as possible new location for the event center, but general manager Tessie Gadwah said, to the best of her knowledge, it is not for sale. Gadwah said Rolecek had spoken a few years ago about leasing the convention center from owner, Jiten Hotel Management of Brockton, Mass. Instead, Celebrations Distinctive Catering took the lease and now handles the operations and sales for all events at the convention center.

Redevelopers also set their sights on the next-door Bedford Mall, which has been plagued with rising vacancies. The mall is yet another possible destination for his restaurant, Rolecek said. Gateway Van Buren Inc., bought the mall in 2007. The new owner is a subsidiary of the New York-based Emmes Asset Management, which wants to revitalize the Bedford Mall in the next three to five years and is already marketing the space as redevelopment property.