The towering golden arches sign may be the only thing that remains unchanged when a new $1-million makeover of the St. Joseph McDonald’s restaurant is completed sometime this fall. Everything else will be renovated, upgraded, updated and shined over the course of the summer season starting soon. Unfortunately, that sign is the one thing that St. Joseph City Commissioners would like to have changed — actually removed and replaced.
McDonald’s franchise owner Estephan Awad who owns both the St. Joseph and Stevensville restaurants appeared before the St. Joseph City Commission Monday night along with his consultant Blair Carmosino of the Carmosino Group out of Noblesville, Indiana seeking approval of a dual drive-thru concept at the rear of the restaurant. Both men reminded the city that the existing free-standing pylon sign is grandfathered in as a non-conforming use and should be allowed to remain.
With the sleek new design elements that will see the entire property transformed dramatically this summer, commissioners were baffled by Awad’s decision to leave the soaring sign in place. He told the commission that since he upgraded the Stevensville McDonald’s and changed signage there to a ground-based monument-style sign he has lost 15-percent of his previous revenue stream. He also told Planning Commissioners last month that changing out the sign would likely cost an additional $75,000 that he doesn’t have to work with.
Carmosino asked the commission for lenience in light of the non-conforming protection that Awad currently enjoys, and provide for a 10-year amortization opportunity and the city will take that under consideration as they continue to formulate new language for the city’s evolving sign ordinance going forward. Awad told commissioners who would like to see the sign come down and be replaced by a monument-style sign, “I’m putting a lot of money into this, and did the same thing in Stevensville and that new sign has resulted in a 15-percent decrease.” He added that if he is forced to change out the sign, “I won’t be able to do this otherwise.”
Commissioners and city staff contend that the Stevensville situation is considerably different than the Niles Avenue address of the St. Joe restaurant. It is set further back from the highway, sits between two stop lights at a busy intersection with traffic coming from multiple directions and moving at considerably higher speeds than along the Niles Avenue corridor.
Meanwhile, the St. Joe McDonald’s will undergo a million-dollar makeover, convert the drive-thru to a dual lane process like many others in the area have already adopted and transform the 25-year old building into a sparkling new, futuristic design on the same footprint.
Unlike the Burger King decision to completely tear down and start from scratch, Awad’s team will completely re-skin the exterior of the building, dramatically renovate the interior, move the bike racks to the front of the building from their current position out back, and generally plan to accomplish the re-do within a 50 to 70 day construction window. During that period the restaurant may be closed occasionally up to a week or ten days total, but Awad promises to minimize customer disruption during the build-out process.
The parking lot will be completely milled, resurfaced, re-striped and finished off with quality landscaping in the makeover which starts shortly and should be completed by late summer or early fall according to the Carmosino Group which represents McDonald’s corporate interests.
Commissioners gave their nod of approval for the dual drive-thru and Awad promised that if he can get a couple of more years out of the sign and retire some of the debt from the remodeling process, it might be easier to change out the sign to one that would be in compliance with the city’s sign ordinances. Stay tuned.
