Guelph's original McDonald's restaurant location on Woolwich Street could finally be redeveloped after being dormant for several years.
The city's Committee of Adjustment has received an application that would see a three-storey building built on two adjacent lots, 735-737 Woolwich St., that would house a daycare, office and another restaurant.
One of those two adjacent lots, 737 Woolwich, is zoned appropriately to permit a daycare while the other does not. A minor variance is being sought to allow the daycare.
The proposal includes an outdoor patio for the restaurant and both above and underground parking.
The McDonald's at that location closed in 2012 and the lot has been vacant since.
The space was purchased by the company in 1973 and Grant Ford bought it and opened it the next year. It was a huge success.
"I used to get a big kick on Friday night because police were out there directing traffic in and out of the restaurant. I mean it was just a madhouse and every time I drove out, I had a big smile on my face," Ford told the now defunct Guelph Mercury newspaper in 2014.
Ford eventually opened four other McDonald's locations, selling them in 2016.
The Committee of Adjustment will hear the application at its Jan. 10 meeting.
