52nd City

Tots with That?: A South Grand Arby's?

For the past half-decade, the one-time Roosevelt Bank building at Grand and Juniata has served as a temporary home for the expanding Commerce Bank, located just next door, and the expanding Carpenter Branch Library, found down the block. It's also done a lot of sitting around, empty, rumored to be the home of everything from a bar-and-theater to a Krieger's, of all things.

Recently, the notion that the old bank would be paved over for the long-awaited, much-discussed, and (in some minds) all-important South Grand parking lot was catching steam, so much so that local listservs were abuzz over the possibility in recent weeks. But the idea of an Arby's wasn't really on any local radar; at least, this blogger hadn't heard of it until today, with the impression gauged that a drive-through Arby's would serve the So. Grand area sooner than a simple parking lot. (Let's fire up that old Joni Mitchell album, shall we?)

Understanding that the one-way Juniata would feed into the Arby's drive-through, one has to wonder if the inclusion of a fast-food facility at this site is the "best and highest" use of the land. But after seeing the well-heeled neighborhood further down So. Grand defeat a proposed McDonald's on the "the old Sears site," it's doubtful that the roast beef sales point will be granted an easy pass in establishing its cash registers along the busy commercial corridor.

Surely, the script's already written for the inevitable, NIMBY protestors: Trash will be an issue for nearby streets. The one-way Juniata will see an increase in traffic, esp. with the Arby's vehicles filtering into the nearby state streets. (My Connecticut, I must admit, included.) The simple notion of another corporate tenant on the block will sit ill with some. "Heck, there's a Lion's Choice, at Chippewa and Grand; isn't that enough?" a few will argue. And the overall block's redevelopment may not point towards an Arby's as the best fit, with nearby condos being proposed on the same, city-square-block footprint. Some conspiricists will surely contend that City Hall's Room 200 is in on the notion, as if someone on the Mayor's staff is hankering for a double Philly Beef Flatbread Melt.

Tonight, I'm not thinking Arby's.

I'm thinking that this scheme is half-baked.