BENNINGTON — The wait for Burger King fans in the Bennington area should soon be over.
The general contractor working on the planned new restaurant off Northside Drive — Axis Construction LLC, based in Alpharetta, Ga. — recently contacted the town concerning whether any additional permitting was required.
The answer was that everything was in place, and clearing of the .83-acre site of old pavement has begun.
“We expect construction to take about 140 days, said Holly Douglas, the company’s director of accounting and permitting.
She said a grand opening celebration will be held at that time.
“We are pretty excited about coming to the area,” she said.
Douglas added that, while some subcontractors will come with the general contractor, they also will be looking for contractors from the Bennington area.
“We always like to hire local subcontractors,” she said.
PERMITS SET
Building and other permits were said to be in place for an estimated $1.7 million project in July 2022 and an August groundbreaking.
However, no work commenced, prompting frequent questions on Facebook and to town officials about whether the project had been cancelled. As an indication of the public interest, a resident was at the site late Friday afternoon taking photos for a Facebook post, and two people riding past on Northside Drive shouted expressions like, “Yeah, Burger King!”
RESTAURANT PLANS
The a 3,200-square-foot, 61-seat restaurant with drive-thru was expected to replace a Burger King off Kocher Drive that closed after 40 years in 2020. The new restaurant is planned for the entrance to Monument Plaza, which includes Walmart and Price Chopper and adjacent to a roundabout on Northside Drive.
The parcel, now part of the BLS Bennington Outlet-owned shopping center, is expected to be leased to the restaurant developer, Carrols, LLC.
The ownership group is associated with hundreds of Burger King and other fast-food franchise locations in multiple states.
The parcel is listed as 216 Northside Drive and was acquired in December 2012 by BLS Bennington Outlet for $593,000 from Charles and Janet Wells, according to town property records. The original .53-acre lot was to be added to from the shopping center parking area to create the .83-acre site. Wells operated a gun shop and gas station there for many years, before selling to the shopping center owners. Those structures have been razed.