Culpeper is getting a brand new Wendy’s in the same location on the North Main Street traffic circle with improved access.
The Town of Culpeper Planning Commission recently approved the site plan for a 3,467-square-foot fast food restaurant at 872 N. Main Street to replace the existing eatery that was built 30 years ago in 1986, according to tax records.
The old restaurant will be demolished and the new one constructed starting in about a month, according to the Maryland-based project engineer Geoffrey Ciniero with CMS Associates. Owner Big Bear Holdings, based in Winchester, hopes to have the new Wendy’s open in the fall, he said.
According to Ciniero, the construction project will take about three to four months to finish. He said the new Wendy’s would be roomier.
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Vehicular access to the restaurant will be provided off of Route 229 and per a rear access road off of Col. Jameson Boulevard to be built by VDOT as part of a recent condemnation settlement.
The new Wendy’s will better align with the new service entrance, according to Charles Lollar, an attorney representing the franchisee in September’s settlement. The owner claimed that when VDOT opened its massive traffic circle in the area in 2014 that it ruined the restaurant.
"With the roundabout pushed right up against its exit, traffic couldn't circulate and it killed the business," Lollar told the Star-Exponent in September.
The owner originally sought more than $1 million from VDOT for taking the land, the roundabout impact and the reported negative effect of a median that now prevents left turns into the Wendy's, according to court documents.
The new Culpeper Wendy’s is a prototypical modern design, said Ciniero. “It was designed to have better access due to the traffic circle,” he said.
The service entrance will also provide access to Pizza Hut next door.
Allison Brophy Champion is a news reporter for The Culpeper Star-Exponent. You can contact her at 540-825-0771 ext. 101 or abrophy@starexponent.com.