By Matthew Daigle
PARIS — The Planning Board voted Tuesday, May 24, to approve a permit application to demolish the existing
McDonald’s restaurant on 118 Main Street and construct a new McDonald’s restaurant in the adjacent lot.
APPROVED — The Paris Planning Board voted at its May 24 meeting to approve a site development plan by Bohler Engineering to tear down the McDonald’s restaurant at 118 Main Street and rebuild it with necessary site improvements, with construction tentatively scheduled to begin in July. The blueprints for the project show that the new building will have a more modern aesthetic look, with fewer parking spaces, but more greenery and landscaping.
Code Enforcement Officer Fred Collins Jr. said that the Planning Board reviewed the permit application at their May 24 meeting and voted to approve it, “as long as it meets the approval of the fire marshal.”
McDonald’s owns two lots on Main Street: the lot that the current McDonald’s restaurant sits on, and a parking lot adjacent to the restaurant.
The project would be overseen by Bohler Engineering, Collins Jr. said.
He said that the tentative plan is for Bohler Engineering to “break ground some time in July, where they will begin constructing the building on the parking lot adjacent to the current McDonald’s restaurant.”
After the new building is constructed, Collins Jr. said that “some time in mid to late September,” the old McDonald’s would be torn down.
“The idea is to keep the restaurant closed for as short a time as possible,” he said. “I think that they’re looking at three weeks of being closed.”
The land that currently houses the McDonald’s restaurant would be turned into a new parking lot.
“It’s a good plan that Bohler Engineering put forth, and they’re good engineers,” Collins Jr. said. “They’re going to be building an up-to-date facility with everything up to code.”
The new building would be 4,850 square feet, which is slightly smaller than the current McDonald’s restaurant, Collins Jr. said.
It will have a “more modern look” and a “newer design, similar to other McDonald’s restaurants throughout the state,” he continued. “The design of the buildings are required to stick pretty close to what other McDonald’s restaurants have done in the past.”
The site development plans also call for 51 parking spaces, which is less than the current parking lot.
“There’s a lot of empty, unused space in the parking lot right now, so there will be less spaces, but more greenery and landscaping,” Collins Jr. said.
He said that the town “seems excited” about the project, and is “excited to see a new and improved building.”
The Napoli Group, based in New Hampshire, is the owner/operator of the South Paris McDonald’s, in addition to McDonald’s restaurants in Rumford, Jay, Farmington, and Kittery.
In 2015, Bohler Engineering tore down the McDonald’s restaurant in Farmington and re-built a new facility with updated features, including a double order station for takeout orders, a modern dining area with television and WiFi, and an automated beverage service that fills an order when it is taken.
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