Project takes another step forward in Pembroke
Posted Jan 10, 2014 @ 12:21 PM
Pembroke residents are a little closer to being able to enjoy the Taco Bell and Panera Bread that will be constructed on Route 139.
Ken Fries, the spokesman for RK Centers, the project’s developer, said at this point the company has received approval from the Pembroke Zoning Board and been given the revisions by the town’s planning board.
Next Monday (Jan. 13) the developer will meet with the planning board once again and will demonstrate how they have made the revisions requested by planning board members. Fries said hopefully the team will get full approval from the planning board on Monday, but he can’t say for sure.
“They asked us to look at our circulation (how cars will travel through the property),” he said. “But in correcting any problems, another one might pop up.”
Fries said if the planning board does approve the project, then the developer will next go to the Pembroke Building Inspector for approval of a design. According to Fries, the design is finished for the most part, but could need to be adjusted depending on what happens with the planning board.
“The plans are done to a certain point, but we can’t have a completed version yet,” he said.
The project, named Pembroke Square, will involve knocking down the existing buildings at the Pembroke Square retail plaza at 155-156 Church St., Pembroke and constructing two separate buildings to house a Taco Bell and Panera Bread. The 99 Restaurant, in the same plaza, will remain in place.
Developer RK Centers purchased the properties soon after buying the Stop & Shop across the street late last year.l
RK Centers, which has more than 30 properties in Florida and New England, already has plans drawn up for the buildings to fit specifications for those restaurants. Fries said the Panera Bread building will be 4,100 square feet and the Taco Bell building will be about 2,000 square feet.
In addition, a Rockland Trust Bank ATM will be placed between the two buildings.
Fries said going to the building inspector and the planning board at the same time isn’t an option because if the planning board asks for something to be changed then the plans would have to be remade and the building inspector would have to start from square one.
“We have to be respectful of the building inspector’s time,” he said.
Fries said if the building inspector approves the project design, and permits are issued, than construction can begin. He said the project is still scheduled to start construction in the spring.
