Golden Corral Still Slated
by June 23, 2003 12:00 am 156 views
Golden Corral Buffet & Grill still plans to build a company-owned restaurant in north Fayetteville even though its large-scale development plan filed with the city’s Planning Division expired in March.
“We basically have an extension of time to do it,” said Frank Ernest, an attorney with Golden Corral’s development department. “Our intent, if everything goes according to plan, is to purchase the property and start construction in August. We would open in late December or early January.”
The property sale has been on hold while the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality checks out the 2.5-acre site, which is on the southwest corner of College Avenue and Main Street (Johnson) and was once home to a gasoline station.
Ernest said he wasn’t sure if environmental tests indicated buried gasoline storage tanks at the site or gasoline that had leaked from parked vehicles. The property is owned by “Carl Fite, et al,” according to records filed with the Planning Division.
Golden Corral has been looking at the site for a couple of years now. The company plans to build a 10,330-SF building there that will seat 390 diners.
Freeland-Kauffman & Fredeen Inc. of Rogers is the civil engineer for the project.
The nearest Golden Corral restaurants are in Fort Smith and Joplin, Mo.