Middletown McDonald's getting smashed after 53 years. Here's plans for the new one

MIDDLETOWN - Built over 50 years ago, the McDonald's restaurant on Route 35 is getting a complete makeover.

The township's Zoning Board of Adjustment recently gave McDonald's Real Estate Co. permission to knock down the restaurant and build a new McDonald's. The new restaurant will be smaller and have dual side-by-side drive-thru lanes.

"The existing restaurant was constructed circa 1971 and has become obsolete," McDonald's said in its application.

The new restaurant has been in the works for years. Kenneth Hollings has been the McDonald's owner-operator of the Middletown McDonald's since 2001.

Fast-food changes: Marlboro McDonald's $3.1M renovation completely upends fast-food restaurants

"We have been in discussions with the corporation, believe it or not, since 2005 to get this restaurant remodeled and make it appropriate for the town, make it better for the residents and also make it better for us," Hollings told the Board of Adjustment at a recent meeting. "McDonald's has been reluctant to do that in the past because they consider it an inferior site because it is in the middle of a divided highway."

The Middletown restaurant is a "successful site," he said.

"We like the site," said Hollings, who owns and operates eight McDonald's in Monmouth and Ocean counties, which besides Middletown, includes restaurants in Tinton Falls and Millstone Township. "We had to work very hard to get to this point to convince McDonald's to invest money into this site. We spent a lot of time doing this."

Where's Waffle House? Chain restaurants missing at Jersey Shore

Amin Sharifi, a project manager at Bohler Engineering in Warren, said the new restaurant will be 3,694 square feet with 38 seats, which is 880 square feet smaller than the current restaurant. It also will 32 parking spaces, down from 62 parking spaces, said Sharifi in his testimony before the Board of Adjustment.

The side-by-side drive-thru lanes are part of a corporate initiative being rolled out at McDonald's restaurants. "The main objective here is customer experience, getting people in and out of the drive through as fast and as efficiently as possible."

The new store will also have three parking spaces for mobile order pickups.

What's Going There? Middletown Family Dollar store part of nationwide closings

David P. Willis, an award-winning business writer, has covered business, retail, real estate and consumer news at the Asbury Park Press for 25 years. He writes APP.com's What's Going There column and can be reached at dwillis@gannettnj.com. Please sign up for his weekly newsletter and join his What's Going There page on Facebook for updates.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Middletown McDonald's will be demolished, replaced with new model