Applebee’s scraps plan to build restaurant near Waynesburg
WAYNESBURG – Applebee’s won’t be serving supper in Greene County after all.
The sit-down restaurant chain abandoned its plans to open a franchise in Greene Plaza in Franklin Township after an apparent dispute with the property’s owner, according to Mark Figurelli, the director of real estate for the company.
“There’s not a deal there,” Figurelli said, although he declined to say when exactly the company scrapped its plan to build a restaurant near the Waynesburg exit of Interstate 79. “It’s been a long time, quite a while ago.”
He said Apple American Group LLC, the restaurant’s parent company, has no plans to open an Applebee’s restaurant in another location in Greene County.
“There were issues from a construction standpoint and we just couldn’t come to terms,” Figurelli said.
That was news to Franklin Township zoning officer Steve Coss after being contacted by a reporter Wednesday afternoon informing him the restaurant chain abandoned its plans.
“I’m glad they let me know,” Coss said after learning the news. “I’ve been sitting on five or six sets of plans that have been approved for that building. But we have to wait until we hear something official that they’re not going to go through with that project. If not, I still have to hold onto these.”
Franklin Township officials were ready to issue a building permit to Apple American Group for more than six months, but Coss was unable to reach anyone with the developer. He said no one returned his numerous calls as the township’s planners tried figure out where the project stood.
Coss added the township only needed easement agreements for the parking lot to issue the building permit. He will continue to hold onto the plans until he hears directly from the company or developer.
“Everything else had been taken care of,” Coss said. “The ball was in their hands.”
The township supervisors approved site plans in March 2015 for the 5,400-square-foot restaurant, which was supposed to be constructed in front of the Greene Plaza on Route 21 right next to the Taco Bell. Construction was supposed to begin last summer, but the developer continued to push back the start date for unknown reason.