The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
With construction on the McDonald’s replacement location in Rutgers Plaza well underway, engineers for the project received on May 7 a thumbs-up to remove branding elements from the current restaurant in Village Plaza.
A representative of the engineering company, Excellence Engineering, appeared before the township Historic Preservation Advisory Commission for its approval of the plan. The Historic Commission’s Certificate of Appropriateness is needed because the current location is within 1,000 feet of the Delaware & Raritan Canal and within the Canal Historic District.
What will be changed is the iconic roof, as well as the lighted elements, to prepare the building for future tenants.
A new, larger McDonald’s is being constructed across Easton Avenue in Rutgers Plaza, in the same area as the former Burger King restaurant.
Among the improvements in the new store will be a dual-lane drive-through.
Commission Chairman Andrew Burian lamented the loss of the current McDonald’s store.
“Anybody else sad that they’re changing the architectural character of a McDonald’s?” he asked. “It’s like a piece of childhood going away, right?”
