Pittsfield Township McDonald's back in business after $1.5M expansion project
The Ann Arbor-area expansion of a small McDonald's restaurant concluded this morning when the "Golden Arches" at Michigan Avenue at US-23 reopened.
The restaurant is 2,000 square feet larger than when it last operated in early October, said co-owner Al Fellhauer.
"The rebuild was as much for capacity as it was anything else," he said of the $1.5 million project, located at 5550 Michigan Avenue in Pittsfield Township, near the entrance to Sam's Club warehouse store.
"We had tremendous capacity issues," Fellhauer said.
The restaurant now has 43 seats in the main dining room and a children's play area - featuring a 15-game video system - with capacity of 99. There also are iPads available in the dining room for customer use.
The expansion also reconfigures the exterior, including the drive-thru lane. McDonald's corporation now asks its operators to have side-by-side drive-thrus.
Staffing also will expand from 35 at the former building to up to 65 in the new store, Fellhauer said.
During the two-month shutdown for construction, many employees worked at Fellhauer's other McDonalds locations, including Dundee.
McDonald's, 5550 W. Michigan Ave.
"Most of the employees came back after the hiatus," he said.
The store will celebrate its grand opening in January, and in the meantime is planning some special events and buy-one-get-one-free deals of Big Macs and Quarter Pounder with Cheese.
Paula Gardner is Business News Director of AnnArbor.com. Contact her at 734-623-2586 or by email. Sign up for the weekly Business Review newsletter, distributed every Thursday, here.
Comments
treetowncartel
Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 11:31 p.m.
I'm lovin it
YpsiLivin
Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 9:25 p.m.
Dading, Where do you get these profile pictures? The one of the little girl with a beard and pigtails was just plain disturbing. :)
dading dont delete me bro
Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 9 p.m.
$1.5 million..? that's a lot of burgers!
proudparent
Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 8:22 p.m.
Im wondering how long it will take before someone ruins the ipads, or actually just steals one of them. I do appreciate the play area for the kids. It sounds great.
Ryan Munson
Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 8:14 p.m.
Absolutely gross. "There also are iPads available in the dining room for customer use."
bgl_fan
Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 7:07 p.m.
I really cannot stand the side-by-side drive thru's. Seems like there is always mass confusion at the pay & pick up windows.
Soothslayer
Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 5:55 p.m.
Awesome, just what we need now to pick up the economy: The capability to serve high fat & sodium "food" faster and to more Americans See you in the spring toes!(maybe)
jcj
Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 4:52 p.m.
"Staffing also will expand from 35 at the former building to up to 65 in the new store" Is that because they don't give any employees full time hours?
Bertha Venation
Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 4:11 p.m.
The folks at the drive through on Plymouth Road are very nice also.
Bill
Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 3:30 p.m.
Welcome Back! I miss my morning stop for an Egg McMuffin. I hope that the lady who is usually working in the mornings when I go through the drivethru is coming back. She was a welcome smiling face each morning.