PORT ANGELES — Talk about timing.
Franchise owner Brian Beaulaurier said new McDonald’s golden arches could be planted at the current 1706 E. Front St. location by mid-2016 after a shutdown beginning in mid-January and lasting up to 120 days.
Construction by Memorial Day would take the longtime Jefferson County resident close to the time for fulfilling a contractual obligation under which McDonald’s restaurants must be replaced every 40 years.
The eatery on the edge of the eastern city limit was completed Dec. 16, 1976 — when Gerald Ford was president.
Beaulaurier wanted to replace the restaurant this year.
Put off for a year
But the international fast-food chain pulled the plug on the $2.5 million project last December after Beaulaurier had already started handing out consolation discount coupons good at other area McDonald’s restaurants to make up for the planned multi-month closure.
City officials last week approved the same building permit for the project that had been submitted last year but was never acted upon, Nathan West, city community and economic development director, said Thursday.
Beaulaurier said corporate officials who last year cited a national construction slowdown in balking at doing “scrape and rebuild” of McDonald’s restaurants now seem primed to take the plunge.
Beaulaurier, who lives near the Hood Canal Bridge, said the top executives will meet Jan. 5 at the company’s regional office in Kirkland to consider final approval.
Confidence in economy
He said he’s “99 percent confident” they will give their consent, given the corporation’s renewed confidence in the economy.
“They are back to building stores again, and that’s the truth,” Beaulaurier said.
“I’m excited to finally get this completed.”
Beaulaurier said the 5,000-square-foot, 122-seat restaurant will be about the same size as the current eatery, with construction and equipment costs pegged at $1.25 million each.
West said the price tag for building it makes the new restaurant the highest-monetary-value building permit issued in 2016 to any private, non-public applicant.
The city, Peninsula College, Olympic Medical Center and the Port of Port Angeles have all had pricier projects, but they are publicly funded.
Second drive-thru
The new McDonald’s will include a new feature that will make Happy Meal fans happier — a second drive-through lane.
“The biggest change in the store is side-by-side, longer drive-through lanes,” Beaulaurier said.
“That’s the thing I’m really excited about.”
The Penn Street vehicle entrance will remain.
The building also will face east rather north.
“It will fit better on the lot,” Beaulaurier said.
Beaulaurier, 61, a Yakima native, is president of Kirkland-based Laurier Enterprises, which controls 14 McDonald’s franchises between Port Angeles and Belfair, including the restaurant in Sequim.
A Washington State University graduate, he has a teaching degree but discovered he could make more money building houses.
He was in his late 20s when he built a home for a McDonald’s franchise owner in Eastern Washington who suggested Beaulaurier’s business sense might make him a successful McDonald’s franchise owner, too.
Beaulaurier started out as a grill-cook at a golden arches in north Seattle, training for free while he continued his construction business.
He’s been a McDonald’s franchise owner for 30 years — including the Port Angeles eatery for 19 years — and has brought his family into the fold.
Beaulaurier and his wife, Kathy, have three daughters, one of whom owns two McDonald’s franchises, with another about to take the reins of a third.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.