By Linda Stinnett

Braum’s is expected to start building a new restaurant at Rock Road and Tall Tree in just over a month and has gained a favorable city nod for major renovations of the K-15 location.

The company has staff approval for the 5,756 square foot building on Rock Road, but has not yet submitted its request for a building permit, according to city staff.

Cody Bird, city planner, said he understands the company is still negotiating with a contractor on the project, but dirt work should begin tentatively in December. Construction is estimated at nearly six months, he said.

The Rock Road restaurant will be on the northwest corner of the intersection with Tall Tree. It was approved over a year ago for a conceptual design similar to the new restaurant at Rock Road and Harry in Wichita, including a grocery section. 

The restaurant will change the look of the corner, and its main entrance will be from a new roadway on the north side of the store. The island on Tall Tree will be extended to prohibit left turns onto that roadway, which could potentially cause traffic to congest around the island. A drive near the back of the Braum’s lot will allow the left turn onto Tall Tree further away from Rock Road.

At the Planning Commission meeting this month, the plans for renovation of the current Braum’s on the K-15 access road were given a favorable nod, too. Those plans call for replacing all of the current store except the exterior walls.

“It’s a complete rehab, including the roof,” Bird said. 

The restaurant purchased the empty lot behind that store and next to Verus Bank on the north a few years ago. That land will provide space for the restaurant to add a double drive-through lane on the east side of the building and add additional parking, including three parking spaces for RVs, commercial trucks or trucks pulling trailers, Bird said. 

Because the building is not being moved, it grandfathers in under some zoning codes. Bird said the Planning Commission asked the company to consider upgrading signs to a monument style and screening mechanical equipment on the roof, but neither is required. The commissioners also asked the company to address potential drainage issues, he said.

The store will not be renovated until the new store is operational, Bird said.

Calls to Braum’s for additional information were not returned.

User Comments

• Grill

  "I hope when they renovate they do not replace the grill! There are decades of flavor in that grill that make their hamburgers taste so fantastic!"

  Posted by Preston on Nov. 1, 2012