If, as we strongly suspect, past is prologue you might want to pay your last visits and final respects to the Pipestone Road Burger King in Benton Charter Township sometime before Monday morning, April 2nd. The building has a date with a team of bulldozers and a wrecking crew immediately following the Easter weekend, to make way for a brand new restaurant at that site across from the entrance to the Benton Harbor Meijer.
Quality Dining, Inc. CEO Dan Fitzpatrick says the demolition of the long standing Burger King at Pipestone just off of I-94 has been in the works for some time, but once the wrecking ball hits on Monday morning, it will come down fast, because the new restaurant has a very aggressive timetable just like his property in St. Joseph last April.
The aging restaurant with it’s atrium glass and mansard roof will be replaced by a sleek new design somewhat similar to Quality Dining’s operations in St. Joseph, Stevensville, Watervliet and along M-139 in Benton Harbor, all of which have been updated over the past several years. The St. Joe Burger King was ripped to the ground just last April and rebuilt in 63 days.
The new 3,500 square foot Burger King which will rise from the ground as soon as the debris of the demolition is removed is targeted to be open within about 10 or 11 weeks, barring any unforeseen problems or undue weather delays in the re-construction process.
Fitzpatrick says he will be investing $1.5-million or more in the new building which will have 45 to 50 employees on staff when it re-opens for business around the first half of June. The interior decor will be similar to most of the renovated Burger Kings in Quality Dining’s line up in Southwest Michigan and Northern Indiana. The exterior will be a bit more of a rectangular shape this time according to the highly successful businessman who owns nearly 160 Burger King restaurants across the region. He also owns 45 Chili’s Grill & Bar sites, including the one in the Southtown St. Joe neighborhood alongside his Burger King there. Additionally, he owns the Papa Vino’s brand of Italian restaurants with one located barely a block away in Southtown St. Joe.
If you normally grab your breakfast, lunch or dinner at the Pipestone Burger King, for the next 60 to 70 days you’ll have to take a short detour to the M-139 version in front of the Fairplain Plaza. Stay tuned.
