SILOAM SPRINGS — A new McDonald’s in Siloam Springs is back on track after company and city officials resolved a disagreement over a driveway that stalled the project.
Bill Mathews, who owns McDonald’s of Northwest Arkansas with his brother, Walter, hope to build a McDonald’s at Holly Street and U.S. 412, replacing the store farther east. The company planned to remodel the current location several years ago, but shelved the project once it learned a median was being installed on the highway in front of the store.
Mathews said business dropped 10 percent since the median was installed.
At A Glance
New Location
McDonald’s of Northwest Arkansas is moving the Siloam Springs location from 1400 U.S. 412 to the intersection of U.S. 412 and Holly St.
The company bought a 4-acre parcel at Holly and U.S. 412 for a replacement store. The intersection has a stoplight.
Mathews plans for this McDonald’s to be the flagship restaurant for the brand in Northwest Arkansas.
Everything was in place for the new store, Mathews said, but the project hit a bump in the driveway at a Jan. 22 meeting of the Siloam Springs Board of Adjustment.
Company officials wanted the new store to have one entrance onto U.S. 412 and two along Holly Street, one of which would be within 45 feet of the intersection with U.S. 412. That driveway required the variance. City staff members thought the driveway would create a traffic problem at the intersection, and the board refused to act on the request.
To get the project moving forward again, Mathews pulled the driveway from the plans. In the new configuration, motorists on Holly Street who want to use the drive-through at the store will enter at a driveway farther from the intersection and circle the building to the area to place orders.
Mathews said City Administrator David Cameron helped the project get moving again. Cameron said special meetings might be called to help the restaurant gain necessary approvals more quickly.
“From an economic development perspective, it’s just moving business along,” Cameron said.
Randy Atkinson, city director of operations, said the city plans to rebuild Holly Street from U.S. 412 to Kenwood Street. City officials considered delaying the street work after the McDonald’s project didn’t appear to be to going forward. Now the street project is to be completed along with the construction of the McDonald’s, Atkinson said.
Curb and gutters will be added along the street, and it will be widened about two feet. The $225,000 street project is in the 2013 budget.
Mathews said new plans should be ready in a couple weeks. He will also have to request a variance to move the road sign. He hopes construction will begin by April 1 and the restaurant is open in July.
Other changes are in store for McDonald’s restaurants in the area.
Mathews said restaurants on Joyce Boulevard in Fayetteville and on South Walton Boulevard in Bentonville are being remodeled. He said permits are in place and work should begin in the next 30 days. Both locations are getting updated looks with double drive-throughs and new play places.
He said the McDonald’s in Farmington will be expanded in the next few months. Stores in Rogers and Springdale have recently been remodeled.
“McDonald’s wants all facilities to have the company’s new look in the next few years,” Mathews said.
The Mathews brothers own 34 area McDonald’s.