Thursday, April 10, 2008

Plans for Denton’s Fry Street at standstill, needs zoning modifications

By Stephanie Butts of North Texas Daily

Guess they shouldn't have been so quick to tear down Mr. Chopsticks, huh?

United Equities Inc. and the city of Denton are in a stalemate.

United Equities, a commercial real estate firm, owns the Fry Street property and can't proceed with development until it receives a use permit, which it was denied by the Denton City Council last December, said Tim Sandifer, spokesperson for United Equities.

The firm is looking to build a strip mall that would include a CVS pharmacy along with various restaurants, he said. Sandifer said the shopping options for students for items such as snacks and general office supplies are very limited.

"We wanted to bring a national retailer to the university," Sandifer said.

Sandifer said the difficulty lies in the drive through that CVS requires in its stores.

Jack Thomson, city council member for District 3, said the company could proceed with building if they give up the drive through.

Thomson said the permit was denied because the council was concerned about traffic becoming more congested in the area.

In order to achieve a permit for a drive through, the city would have to modify the zoning, which would require permission from the zoning commission and the city council, Thomson said.

The zoning commission approved the permit, Sandifer said. But the city council denied the permit with a 3-4 vote, Thomson said.

Sandifer said they are unable to take the drive through out of the plans because CVS is the anchor tenant and it refuses to build until it is allowed to have one.

Right now United Equities has no intention of redoing the plans for the development, Sandifer said.

Although Pizza Hut, Snuffers and Café Brazil were also scheduled to be placed in the shopping center, CVS is the store United Equities was depending on to bring in business, he said. Sandifer said when developing a strip mall there is usually one highly popular store everyone goes to and the rest of the surrounding businesses feed off its shoppers.

"The drive through is a convenience for the customers and the neighborhood," Sandifer said.

Thomson said he does not know what is going to happen to the area.

"I'm sure something is going to be there," he said.

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Comments

David Gouldin Staff

There are plenty of CVS stores without "drive-thru"s. (C'mon, don't you know how to spell thru? It's even in the dictionary!) I agree with the city council that it would clog up an already congested area. Besides, if you have access to a car and are driving to a CVS, why not drive the literally 2 miles to the CVS on University? I thought the whole point of having it close to campus was so that it would be within walking distance for students.

If you must sell out Fry Street's soul, at least have a little respect for its infrastructure.

3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

James Scott Verified

Jeez, makes me want to vomit that they're replacing The Tomato with a Pizza Hut. That's the ultimate slap-to-the-face of Fry Street. How completely pathetically generic can you get? Bravo to the council for not backing down, although I'm sure it will be just a matter of time before they cave if it was only a 3-4 vote.

3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

David Gouldin Staff

Don't worry, James. They're working on finding a new home. Meanwhile, it looks as though the folks at Save Fry Street have decided to call it a day.

3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )