Council Votes 4-1 on Redevelopment Burger King Plan

The initial approval that the Temple Terrace City Council gave to Burger King’s plans to relocate in the downtown redevelopment area wasn’t unanimous.

Council members voted 4-1 on Tuesday in favor of the plan. Councilman Grant Rimbey cast the dissenting vote.

“The architecture’s good,” Rimbey said, “but, in my opinion, the plan still doesn’t work.”

The plan calls for the Burger King at 101 Bullard Parkway to move to 8755 N. 56th St. in front of the Sweetbay plaza.

The 3,104-square-foot freestanding restaurant would be constructed at the northeast corner of 56th Street and Chicago Avenue. It would have a wrap-around drive-through, and its main entrances would face Sweetbay.

The back of the restaurant, including a dumpster, would face 56th Street. The owners would integrate the dumpster with the building, and they would screen it from 56th Street.

Rimbey said he thinks there should also be an entry from 56th Street.

“It’s weird for a public building in a walkable downtown redevelopment to have its rear facing a primary road,” Rimbey said. “It’s just bizarre. If we could find any way that we could more welcome the pedestrian other than that blank façade and dumpster enclosure, I would appreciate any ideas that you would have.”

Dan Fitzpatrick, chairman and CEO of Quality Dining, which owns the Burger King in the redevelopment area, said his team has worked diligently with city staff on the plans.

“If there is a more stringent, tough, detailed staff of any community in south Florida, I haven’t met them yet,” Fitzpatrick said. “Your folks have held us to account on every single element of your city standards.”

It wouldn’t make sense to have an entrance in the back of the building because that’s where the walk-in cooler, the kitchen and the bathrooms are located, he said. And Burger King wouldn’t want drive-thru traffic to interfere with pedestrian traffic.

Fitzpatrick also assured the council that the restaurant would be one-of-a-kind.

“This is not a stock building,” he said. “There is nothing about this building that is representative of any Burger King restaurant that has ever been built before.”

The council received no public comment during the meeting Tuesday, but Mayor Frank Chillura praised Fitzpatrick and Quality Dining before the council’s vote.

“They’re commitment to the community is exactly what we’re looking for,” Chillura said. “They get involved, and these are the type of businesses and people that we want to be in our community.”

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