Five bucks used to get you into a first-run movie at 16409 Detroit Ave.
Now, it’s one step closer to getting you a Big Mac Extra Value Meal.
The Lakewood Architectural Board of Review conditionally approved at Thursday, providing they resize a sign, make the building’s exterior glass more transparent and provide more details on the building’s materials.
“This building has come a long ways,” ABR Chair Jeffery Foster said. “Is it ideal? No. But it is a great representation of how a company can adapt to a community’s needs.”
The approval came after the ABR sent the famous fast-food chain in July, citing concerns over traffic flow and the building aesthetically fitting with city’s design.
Mike Lewis, developer for , said in his introduction the new plans arose from “many discussions” with the board.
“We feel that the end result is a building Lakewood will be proud of, and it will be a benchmark for the future of McDonald’s,” Lewis said.
In addition to moving the building closer to the street to align with other downtown storefronts, the plans contained several changes from the company’s original proposal, including:
- a side-by-side drive-thru, to prevent congestion;
- large, transparent windows along the street;
- black awnings over all street-bordering windows;
- an urban park, with perennial flowers, shrubs and trees;
- a rooftop green space.
ABR members did express some concerns over the size of the monument sign — the big red signs with the Golden Arches — being placed near the primary, Detroit Avenue entrance.
“It detracts from your building,” Carl Orban said. “It’s just going to be this big blob of red.”
Lewis said the monument sign was core to the McDonald’s brand. And at 8-feet tall, it was already shorter than the city’s 10-foot limit.
The board remained critical, as Foster reminded McDonald’s of their request for four more signs than current city ordinance allows.
“So that means you’ll have six signs,” he said. “That’s a lot of signs.”
Residents, however, were still unconvinced that traffic congestion at the Detroit-Woodward intersection will not become an issue, as the drive-thru exit is currently placed on Woodward Avenue — 80 feet from the intersection — and the city is planning to remove the stoplight.
“I’m four houses down on Woodward, and I can’t get out of my drive way as it is,” said Lisa Blackburn, of 4240 Woodward Ave. "How are we going to get out once this place opens?"
The theater, after 87 years of operation, closed its doors this January, after several years of declining attendance and rising cost of film companies. It has been on the market for $695,000, and had drawn little interest.
You call me a "whiner" because I'm questioning tearing down a historic theater to put up a McDonalds. I don't want to live in a city where concerned citizens do not question important decisions. It appears you're an ignorant follower, not a leader or free thinker. Just what a dying community needs. Keep drinking the Kool Aid. You can get a refill at McDonalds.
Second, I understand that Mr. Barr is free to sell his property to whomever he chooses. My argument is that it's sad that Planning & Development couldn't have secured a better buyer for Mr. Barr than McDonalds. They dropped the ball.
Direct from the City's website, here is what they do: The Department of Planning and Development coordinates long-range planning, zoning, and economic development for the City as well as administers the federal Community Development Block Grant Funds awarded to Lakewood by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Department works directly with the Lakewood Planning Commission, the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Board of Building Standards/Architectural Board of Review and Sign Review Board, the Lakewood Heritage Advisory Board, and the Citizens Advisory Committee. I never called you a whiner. In fact ... I appreciate civil discourse and appreciate that you care enough to speak up.
Theresa wants to replace historic theaters with McDonalds's and landmark churches with more CVS's. Rationale? "[T]he new businesses bring in needed tax dollars that the churches didn't." You're right. If you don't want to pay your taxes, then you will live in a community suffocating with McDonalds and CVS. Don't worry, we're almost there.
It's time for Dru Siley and the rest of that department to step up and do a better job before this town is taken over with fast food chains.
My point is that Wodward Avenue citizens may benefit from developing a consensus with regard to the neighborhood's concerns ... and presenting those concerns in an organized way to ARB, City Council, the Mayor's Office. It seems that some folks are hell bent on keeping McDs out of Lakewood while some - like you - seem not to mind if McD's builds there but don't want an exit on Woodward. Others are only appalled by the thought of losing childhood memories when the Theare is demolished. Some beleive that the Theatre deserves some type of Histrocial Designation (and to my knowledge Charles Milsaps is the only person persuing that). If increased traffic is The Main Issue, then tearign the building down and replacing it with nothing seems to be the best solution. (Unless someone can tell me what kind of successful business should be built there that would not increase traffic.)
I'm not holding my breathe on that plan, though, as the building has been on the market for three years and it apears that McDs is the only one interested.