Improvements are planned for Wendy’s Restaurant at the corner of Harlem Avenue and Madison Street, and they might be coming fast.
The project is up for approval at the May 21 village board meeting, but the restaurant would need to be closed just 90 days for a complete redevelopment of the site, company representatives told the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) last week.
Rolando Acosta, an attorney for Wendy’s International Inc., said the company’s construction manager was hoping to get complete approval for the project in May to avoid higher construction costs that would ensue if a contract were not signed by June 1.
“This may be difficult to do, and I’ve advised him it’s the equivalent perhaps of a quadruple checkers move to get this done by that date,” Acosta said. But ZBA members agreed to a special meeting to finalize its approval and forward the matter to the village board before its May 21 meeting.
The ZBA enthusiastically and unanimously gave preliminary approval to the fast-food vendor’s application for a special-use permit for a drive-thru window last week. The restaurant currently has a drive-thru, but needed approval again for the revamp.
“Wendy’s is to be complimented for wanting to do what they’re doing here and invest the capital in the community,” said Tom Brashler, a ZBA member. “This is going to be just an unbelievable improvement to that corner.”
Planned improvements include a Prairie-style facade. “This is a one-and-only,” said Jeff Gylling, division construction manager for Wendy’s International Inc. “We have no other Wendy’s Restaurant in the system that looks like this building. It was specially designed for this location.”
Landscaping will be expanded and improved; lowered lights will reduce glare and light spill, while decorative fixtures will complement the facade.
Design improvements came at the urging of village staff, with whom Wendy’s has been in discussions for four years on revamping the 1982 building. Plans for the restaurant, which is owned by Wendy’s International and is not a franchise, originally called for a rehabilitation until the price tag for the project grew to nearly $1 million. “We made the decision that, spending that much on a remodel, it would just make more sense to scrape [sic] and rebuild the facility,” Gylling said.
A complete teardown/rebuild has been discussed the past two years, Acosta said. The project cost is approximately $1.5 million.
Acosta said roughly 7 of every 10 Wendy’s customers at the site use the drive-thru.
Responding to requests by ZBA members, Wendy’s will add a sidewalk to the restaurant from Madison Street and bike racks on the south side of the new building. The building will be oriented in a north-south direction, as opposed to its current east-west configuration.
Changing the configuration will improve automobile circulation around the building, and closing a curb cut on Harlem Avenue will improve safety, company representatives said.
Although Wendy’s is just a tenant on the site, it agreed to make space on the corner for a Village of Oak Park decorative gateway sign for as long as the business is there. Wendy’s recently renewed its lease for 18 years, representatives said.
All elements of the site will be rebuilt, except for the pole sign near the intersection. Some ZBA members seemed to prefer a “monument sign,” or a sign that sits on the ground rather than suspended on a pole. But Acosta said company executives wanted to keep the sign.
“They feel very strongly they need it for identity purposes, particularly with a non-prototype Wendy’s at that location,” he said.
CONTACT: dcarter@wjinc.com