New KFC on the menu for PNC Putnam Plaza site
Alphabet soup may not be on the menu but the old PNC is set become the new KFC.
The Greencastle City Council heard that development Thursday night when City Planner Scott Zimmerman explained that the property at 46 Putnam Plaza, last occupied by used car dealer Motorama Auto Center, will be razed and a new Kentucky Fried Chicken establishment constructed on the site of the former PNC Bank.
"Plans were approved to tear down that structure that I believe was originally built as a bank," Zimmerman confirmed following a question from Councilman Steve Fields. "They're clearing the site and redesigning it to be a new Kentucky Fried Chicken."
The Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant at 509 Bloomington St. closed last November after more than 40 years of serving Greencastle's south side. That building, a second-generation KFC structure on that site, has been repainted and put up for sale.
Fields asked if the new site would have the same owners who ran the Bloomington Street operation.
"I don't believe so, no," Mayor Bill Dory responded.
And that is true. Zimmerman told the Banner Graphic Friday that the Putnam Plaza site has been purchased by Papaw Foods, Ona, W.Va., for the creation of a 2,382-square foot (roughly 70-by-30 foot) KFC restaurant.
It is expected to seat 42 patrons, "which is nice-sized eating area," Zimmerman commented.
The new KFC, however, does not plan to house a buffet, according to the information they supplied to the city planner.
"One of the enhancements," Zimmerman told the Council, "is they will be constructing a sidewalk" (east from its terminus at Dairy Queen) to the east end of the property and planning a pedestrian pathway from the sidewalk along the north side of Indianapolis Road to the restaurant.
No information was available on when the restaurant is expected to open.
However, Zimmerman said the construction crew has already obtained a demolition permit and is expected to take down the current East Side structure within 10-20 days.