March 29, 2024
Business

Orono approves fancy Wendy’s for mall site

ORONO – The old-fashioned hamburger could be in town by this fall.

The planning board Monday night unanimously approved plans for a 3,500-square-foot Wendy’s restaurant and drive-through to be located on Stillwater Avenue at the front of the University Mall parking lot. The 14-acre mall lot is home to Bell’s IGA, Spotlight Cinemas and the former Ames department store. The approval came with the condition that the developer, MHF Design Consultants of Salem, N.H., be required to help develop additional parking on paved area behind the mall, if it becomes necessary.

The addition of the restaurant would drop the number of available parking spaces from more than 600 to 507, according to Karl Dubay, a representative for the developer. Traffic estimates showed the combined peak needs of all the businesses in the mall to be 577 spaces, although the different hours of operation would probably keep the parking lot from filling up, Dubay said.

“We believe those peaks will not occur at the same time,” Dubay said.

The restaurant is planning to be open from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., with a drive-through open until 1 a.m.

More expensive than other Wendy’s designs, the all-brick building with Colonial windows will feature a drive-through line that horseshoes around the building. The restaurant will have 110 feet of frontage on Stillwater Avenue, although the entrance will be in the parking lot, Dubay said. Customers will travel down a 160-foot “throat” to reach the entrance. The throat will have two entrance and two exit lanes, which will alleviate some current traffic problems at the mall’s entrance, he said.

“That’s pretty bad right now,” Dubay said. “The throat is just a free-for-all.”

Engineers with the project said it would not significantly increase traffic counts.

Construction on the restaurant could begin as early as this summer, Dubay said after the meeting.


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