The McDonald’s on North Broad Street, which closed in May, will reopen in December to complement the Avenue of the Arts North project.
The fast food restaurant was torn down in July.
Barbara Dawkins, co-owner of the restaurant and vice president of JO-DAN Enterprises, a McDonald’s licensing company, said it was torn down because it became too costly to fix persistent problems in the existing store.
“The store was inefficient the way it was and cost too much too fix it,” she said.
The old restaurant closed for business on May 18.
Dawkins is excited about the changes in the new store. She said that students and surrounding neighbors can expect to see a plush new store. Some of the new features include Internet access and a large lobby for customers to sit in.
“It will have a ‘Club Mickey D’ atmosphere,” Dawkins said.
She said that she hoped the new McDonald’s would be a place where students and customers could come to hang out.
Students said the need to rebuild the restaurant seemed to be in good timing because deterioration was evident.
“It definitely needed to be rebuilt,” said Betsy Henninger, a sophomore. “It was run down.”
Al Alvarez, a senior who lived in Johnson and Hardwick residence hall his freshman year, said the new McDonald’s would be a good place for students to go to after other places were closed.
“For the kids in J&H I’m sure they would be [happy] because that’s the late night spot. That’s where I used to go,” said Alvarez.
But other students feel that it is not necessary to rebuild the McDonald’s, citing the numerous fast food places already in the area.
“It’s disgusting; it’s a health hazard,” sophomore Ana Licciardo said. “We just really don’t need another McDonald’s.”
The Avenue of the Arts North Project is an effort to revitalize Broad Street as far north as Glenwood Avenue. According to the project’s Web site, the project is focusing on advocacy issues such as economic development, transportation, and the clean-up of vacant buildings, among other things.
Although the site is located only a few blocks from campus Temple does not have any direct connection with the rebuilding of the McDonald’s.
Renita Burns can be contacted at renita.burns@temple.edu.
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