In February, CarMax Auto Superstores Inc., a subsidiary of CarMax Inc., purchased a 7.5-acre parcel at 10315 Hickman Road in Urbandale, and the auto dealer could move forward this spring with its planned construction of a 33,782-square-foot building.

The Richmond, Va.-based company, which acquired the vacant land on the northeast corner of Hickman and 104th Street from Lithia Real Estate Inc. for $3.15 million, is also expected to obtain an adjacent 4-acre parcel to the north from DRA Properties LC.

“CarMax’s operation is just a little bit bigger, so they need the parcel north of that as well,” said chief city planner Steve Franklin of the company’s intention to develop a site once slated for a Lithia Motors Inc. dealership.

The Fortune 500 company and largest U.S. auto retailer also plans to construct an approximately 2,947-square-foot car wash building.

CarMax, which said it plans to open five locations during its 2012 fiscal year, reported a gross profit of $297.9 million in its fiscal third quarter, which ended Nov. 30, a 23 percent increase from $242.9 million during the year-earlier period.

DRA Properties, an Ankeny-based real estate company founded by billionaire Dennis Albaugh, also owns another parcel directly north of CarMax’s proposed site.

DRA Properties had proposed an industrial building on a 6.87-acre lot near New York Avenue.

“It was projected for a specific user,” said Ted Rapp, development coordinator for DRA Properties. “It just never came to fruition.”