Fast-food chains freshen up looks

Taco Bell latest along Sixth Street to serve up expansion, new decor

Burger King put on a new roof and upgraded its fixtures. McDonald’s added a patio, expanded its drive-through and revamped its kitchen and dining room. Taco John’s is getting a new look, inside and out.

Now Taco Bell is going even further.

The longtime fast-food fixture on Sixth Street is set to close Sunday night, just in time to get bulldozed Monday morning.

In its place: An expanded, new restaurant.

“It’s a new image,” said Terri Scott, office manager for the franchise owner, St. Joseph, Mo.-based Camolaur Inc. “We’ve had that old store for 20 years. We just want to provide a new, updated building for our customers.”

The project at 1220 W. Sixth St. is the latest in a rash of restaurant remodelings along a two-block section of Sixth Street. Burger King started it last summer, followed in recent weeks by McDonald’s and Taco John’s.

Patrick Manning, a spokesman for McDonald’s franchise owner Dobski & Associates, said that the new looks would help the area continue to draw more customers.

Taco Bell, 1220 W. Sixth St., is set to be demolished Monday. The franchise owner, St. Joseph, Mo.-based Camolaur Inc., plans to rebuild a larger restaurant at the same location. Construction is expected to take three months.

“The buildings were just getting old and tired,” Manning said. “It was just time for an update. It’s just fluke timing that we’re all doing it at the same time.”

The Taco Bell work is scheduled for completion within three months, and all 25 employees will be invited to continue working – either at the company’s other restaurant in Lawrence, or in the company’s two locations in Emporia. Scott said that the new building in Lawrence would be bigger, and include double drive-through lanes to accommodate time-tested customers.

And the work doesn’t look to be the end for Taco Bell in town. Scott said that Jim Carter, owner of Camolaur, was looking to open a third Lawrence restaurant, either near Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive or 31st and Iowa streets.

“He’s been looking hard,” she said. “He’s been wanting to do that.”