LITTLE ROCK — You knew it would come to this. McDonald’s has lost count of how many hamburgers it has sold.
Back in the day, every one of the stands would post a running total: millions ... billions.
Must be in the trillions by now, like the national debt.
But the chain that now covers the globe after its start in Des Plaines, Ill., in 1955 (excluding the hamburger stand operated in California by the McDonald brothers) hasn’t lost its identity.
That explains the retro look of its latest restaurant in the state, on University Avenue just south of West Markham Street in Little Rock. The front is glass and the “golden arches” are again part of the architecture, after moving around and being deemphasized.
It’s what the company calls a “tribute” style.
And there’s that slanted roof common to roadside stands — fruit, vegetables, fireworks, burgers — which in a subtle way says: Pull over, grab something to eat and be on your way.
The tribute store is only the second in the country, said Delaine Farr, who handles public relations for the 87 central Arkansas McDonald’s.
She was on hand Wednesday after the store opened at midnight Tuesday.
The exterior may look familiar but the inside “doesn’t look like a McDonald’s, and we’re OK with that,” Farr said.
The interior is, well, designed. Benches, booths, chairs and tables have a certain whimsical look. Even the floor is composed of tiles of different colors arranged in abstract patterns.
McDonald’s as postmodern?
Numbers always bring us back to reality. The store will employ about 100, compared with about 50 on average.
That’s because it’s “a highcapacity restaurant,” Farr said.
It’s tucked into the shadow of the Park Avenue shopping mall, with its 258 loft apartments that will open next year, across University from St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center and around the corner from Park Plaza mall and Midtowne Little Rock.
Want some traffic to go with that burger?
Markham was widened and a center turn lane was added west of the intersection with University, with a driveway off University providing easier access to the rear side of McDonald’s for westbound and eastbound motorists.
McDonald’s may soon have a next-door neighbor, a Chipotle Mexican Grill.
The chain has filed a site plan with the city that will be taken up next month by the Little Rock Planning Commission, according to Tony Bozynski, director of planning and development for the city.
The 2,262-square-foot restaurant would take the place now occupied by the 54-yearold five-story Baker Building, which would be razed.
Ernie Peters, a Little Rock engineer who worked up the plan for the McDonald’s, said the new turn lane would likewise accommodate the Chipotle restaurant.
Peters said the Chipotle site plan also would reshape the southwest corner of the intersection to make it “much more pedestrian friendly.”
The McDonald’s now occupies the site where longvacant Bennigan’s, one of the city’s early fern bars, stood.
Speaking of design, it’s refreshing to see that some thought went into the design of the interchange of Interstates 630 and 430 in west Little Rock.
Have you noticed the pinecone motif on the stanchions of the overpasses, and the pine forest in bas-relief on a bank revetment as you make your way through the “Big Rock Interchange” and head north on I-430?
The state’s official tree is the pine.
The cost of beauty? In this case, between $150,000 and $160,000 for the embellishments on the $125 million project, said Randy Ort, spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
Meantime, the forest of buildings in and near the River Market District is beginning to thicken. The Arcade building on River Market Avenue is above ground, and the Residence Inn by Marriott, two blocks south of there on River Market, has taken shape.
Soon people will start complaining about how dark it is down there, with all the new buildings blocking sunlight. Imagine.
Over on the Main Street corridor, a new parking garage at Louisiana and West Fourth streets is mushrooming. It’s to the rear of The Mann on Main residential and commercial development that’s in what was once Blass Department Stores flagship.
Down the street, the Main Street Lofts, four historical buildings, also are rumbling to life with retrofitting after decades of seeming death.
If you have a tip, call Jack Weatherly at (501) 378-3518 or e-mail him at
jweatherly@arkansasonline.com
Business, Pages 67 on 12/23/2012