Another fast food choice could be headed to Towamencin Township behind Chick-fil-A. Towamencin Retail Development LLC, a subsidiary of Clemens Family Corporation, presented its case for a drive-through for proposed restaurant Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers at a conditional use hearing before supervisors Wednesday night.
Towamencin Retail Development, through CFC, owns the 10.8-acre parcel, which already includes Wawa and Chick-fil-A. Freddy’s Steakburgers would be built on a piece of open ground between a ballfield and Chick-fil-A, which is commonly used now for parking overflow.
The LLC recently received approval of a land development waiver to expand parking next to Chick-fil-A to handle this issue. Attorney Jim Garrity, representing Towamencin Retail Development and Freddy’s Steakburgers, said the additional parking was not supposed to be needed until Freddy’s was built, but it is needed sooner than that, in order to develop the property for the restaurant and a proposed Firestone Tire Service Center.
The conditional use request is asking supervisors to approve a dual drive-through, with a third bypass or “escape” lane to bypass the menu board. The drive-through would accommodate or “stack” 12 cars.
“The drive-through is not too dissimilar to what Chick-fil-A does with dual queueing lanes and multiple order boards,” said project engineer C.J. Bock at the hearing. “We are able to accommodate six cars, four in advance of the menu board, for a total of 12 cars in combined lanes leading up to the pick-up window.”
The bypass lane, Bock said, would allow people to change their minds.
“Or, perhaps,” he continued, “in some peak period where, if need be, (the restaurant) can pass customers around and bring food out to them. Generally, you want a bypass lane if kids are screaming and you don’t want food anymore.”
Preliminary land development plans show 38 parking spaces on the site. A sidewalk would line up with the existing sidewalk outside Chick-fil-A, which is located across an internal driveway from the proposed development. Entrance and exit to Freddy’s would be from that internal roadway, Bock said.
Supervisors are expected to approve or deny the conditional use request at a later date. Towamencin Retail Development would still need to go through full engineering and land development processes.
At present, cars and semi-trailers park on the stone lot on the proposed parcel to eat at Chick-fil-A.
Audience member Peter Murphy asked where those tractor trailer drivers would park once Freddy’s is developed. Bock said there is standing approval for the parking expansion in the future, which would help supplement some of the parking.
“To be honest,” Bock said, “I think semi tractor trailers are going to have to find a new place to eat lunch. They are not going to have a big, open expanse to park in anymore. It’s all going to be developed. Unfortunately, we are not going to be able to facilitate parking of tractor trailers on our site.”
Garrity said that there would be lengthy parking areas proposed at the top of the parcel, close to another internal roadway that runs between the parcel and a ballfield. The roadway he mentioned runs between the three-way intersection for entrances/exits to Wawa, Hatfield Quality Meats and the Lowe’s shopping area in Hatfield Township, and the entrance/exit thoroughfare that runs along the North Penn Water Authority property.
“I presume tractor trailers can park there,” Garrity said of the roadway, “but it is not encouraged.”
According to QSR Magazine, in 2017, Freddy’s signed a multi-unit franchise agreement with investor Matt Melvin, who is opening eight restaurants in Montgomery County. Currently, Freddy’s has three locations in Pennsylvania in Broomall, West Chester and Exton.
Freddy’s Steakburgers operates more than 300 franchise locations in 32 states. There are no locations in the Tri-State Area or Maryland, except for Pennsylvania, and no franchises exist in the New England region, New York state and the Pacific Northwest. Freddy’s recently signed a master franchise agreement with a Dubai investor to bring the fast food chain to the Middle East, including United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
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