Fennel Mum on Plans

Joe Fennel, the owner of Jose Inc., Fayetteville’s No. 1 locally owned restaurant in gross sales, has been uncharacteristically quiet about his plans to build a new restaurant on Dickson Street.

Fennel said the two-story restaurant will have rooftop dining and will be at least 11,500 SF in size. But beyond that, Fennel isn’t saying much more. He won’t even divulge what kind of food he’ll be serving at 310 W. Dickson St.

On Sept. 9, the Fayetteville Planning Commission approved Fennel’s request for a waiver for 52 parking spaces at the site of the new restaurant. City regs call for one parking space for every 200 SF of restaurant, which means Fennel would have to provide 58 spaces, but the commission is giving him credit for six spaces because of the existing building at the site. Fennel told the commission that he plans to come up with a lot nearby, a shared parking agreement or he’ll pay the city’s fee of $1,200 per parking space.

“I’ll have to find or pay for 52 spaces,” Fennel told the Business Journal. “This is just one step in a long process.”

Tim Conklin, Fayetteville’s city planner, said the $1,200-per-space fee is relatively inexpensive. Construction of a parking deck for the Town Center building ended up costing $12,000 per space, he said.

Fennel said he plans to build the restaurant on the 0.17-acre lot he owns just to the east of Doe’s Eat Place, which is the building directly east of Jose’s Mexican Restaurant. The lot is currently home to Fennel’s 1,200-SF office building, which was a Fayetteville landmark called Jug’s Drive-In a half century ago.

An existing, freestanding Arvest Bank automatic teller machine will be enclosed within the proposed building, Fennel said.

Fennel said the new building will cost him at least $1 million, but he had little more to add on Sept. 9 after returning from the Bahamas, where he had been fly fishing for bonefish.

In 1998, Fennel planned to build a mixed-use development of about the same size on the lot, but that project fell through.

Jose Inc. consists of Jose’s Mexican Restaurant and Bordino’s, an Italian restaurant, that Fennel has in the same building at 324 W. Dickson St.