A new KFC restaurant is planned for the lot adjacent to D’Angelos on East Main Street. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY/THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
WESTFIELD – A new KFC restaurant is being planned for 301-303 East Main St.
Robert Levesque of R. Levesque Assoc. presented the site plan for the KFC drive-through restaurant to the Planning Board for consideration at its Nov. 17 meeting, on behalf of applicant Ron Abdow and ABSAK, LLC.
In the proposal, posted at www.cityofwestfield.org, Levesque said the restaurant would be built on a vacant pad site at 301-303 East Main St. directly adjacent to D’Angelo’s, owned by Streamfield LLC, Andrew Oleksak, and containing a portion of an existing 70,489 square-feet of the shopping plaza at 301 East Main St., owned by Abdow.
Levesque said that Abdow also owns the property of 311 E. Main St. which contains the remainder of the shopping plaza. Streamfield LLC and Abdow have a reciprocal easement agreement affecting their respective parcels regarding the operation and maintenance of common areas at the shopping center. The easement agreement authorized the creation of an entity known as ABSAK, LLC to develop the two properties collectively and enter into long-term leases with tenants for buildings currently existing or to be built at the shopping center.
The proposed 2,400 square-foot restaurant will have two lanes for the drive-through to increase the amount of stacking and functionality of pickup, Levesque said. There will also be a bypass lane to drive around the stack.
There will be access to the drive-through from the plaza. Levesque said they strategically located the ordering kiosk for the second drive through to allow access to cars coming from the plaza. There will also be access to pedestrians.
The building will be located within an area which currently provides surplus parking to the Shopping Center, and will eliminate 52 surplus parking spaces for existing commercial uses. Levesque said 19 additional spaces will be developed as part of the proposed project, providing a net loss of 33 parking spaces at 303 East Main St. He said there will still be a surplus of 32 spaces over what is required.
There were some suggestions made at the Planning Board meeting on the location of the entrance, which Levesque said he believed they could accommodate. He said he would bring changes back to the next meeting. The hearing was continued to Dec. 15.
After the meeting, Levesque said the applicant is looking to be operational fairly quickly, by the spring if they can start quickly. He said there used to be another KFC on the other side of the plaza near Mainline Drive with a different franchisee, but that this one is in a much better location for the restaurant.
