Fast-food restaurant could provide a boost to struggling business district

Coraopolis soon may be adding a national restaurant icon to its struggling downtown business district.

Delvin Miller, a real estate representative with McDonald's, presented a preliminary site plan to council at its workshop meeting Wednesday.

'We like to think that we are a hometown company,' Miller said.

The proposed site is directly behind a metered parking area across from the borough building at 1012 Fifth Ave. The restaurant would face Fourth Avenue and would occupy what is currently a borough permit parking area.

The former Finn Construction company building, which is next to the permit parking area, would be demolished to make room for a comparable parking area.

Miller said a McDonald's can be built in 70 days and he hopes to have Coraopolis' open by the end of the year.

The McDonald's would not only add to the tax base and bring jobs to Coraopolis, it also will remove a building that has outlived its use, he said.

Council voted unanimously to authorize borough Solicitor Richard Start to work with Mark Aletto, who represents McDonald's, on details of the project.

Coraopolis Planning Commission is expected Monday to make a favorable recommendation to council on the development. Council is then expected to vote on the matter at its regular meeting Wednesday.

'It will be a bright spot,' Lee Colarossi, owner of Lee Realty company, said of the new business that will break up the block in the town's center.

Colarossi represents David Finn of Bridgeville, who owns the Finn Construction building. McDonald's is one of three parties interested in the building. A warehouse or a permanent haunted house are the other two proposed uses.

Colarossi has been anxious to present the idea to council because he needs to show Finn that he has located an appropriate buyer.

'I have been on pins and needles until tonight,' he said.

McDonald's has been searching for an appropriate site in the borough for several years.

Finding a location that is close to and visible from the one-way traffic on both Fourth and Fifth avenues presented a challenge.

Miller said the proposed location is ideal because the pedestrian traffic and the small shops in town draw a large number of people past the site.

'I think it would be a nice fit for the marketplace,' he said.

Councilman Daniel LaRocca said the new business may entice traffic that normally drives through town to stop.

Mayor John Haberland said a traffic study conducted several years ago showed that 14,000 cars a day travel on Fourth Avenue, while 15,000 travel on Fifth Avenue.

Councilwoman and Finance Chair Terry Kirkpatrick asked if a railroad theme could be used to decorate the restaurant.

Miller said that there are different decor packages to choose from and that at other locations he has reproduced black and white photos that show the history of an area to decorate the interior.

Miller has built 30 McDonald's in western Pennsylvania in the past seven years.

McDonald's would be the borough's only national restaurant chain. The Pizza Hut, at 1437 Beers School Road, recently closed.