Demolition has begun at the intersection of North Main and Northside Drive to make way for the construction of a new Parker's Kitchen.
According to Justin Williams, Planning and Housing Administrator for the City of Statesboro they conducted a pre-construction meeting on site with the contractor on Monday, and they are estimating a little over 200 days for demolition and construction.
This is the second new Parker's Kitchen under construction in the City. They began construction in January of a new Parker's Kitchen across from Paulson Stadium.
We have reached out to Parker's for comment but at this time we have not received a reply.
Competitive battle
Parker's and Enmark have been in a bit of a battle for this intersection, which was famously dubbed the crossroads of the United States. Before the Interstate systems were created, Hwy. 301 and U.S. 80 connected the Northeast and Southeast U.S. with the Western U.S.
Enmark purchased the former Franklin's Restaurant property in 2010 and constructed the Enmarket on that site. They then purchased the land diagonal which was the former location of the Dairy Queen and KFC. They now own almost the entire block ending at the current Dairy Queen. This purchase was done to block a competitor from locating there.
Last year, Parker's Kitchen received a variance to build on the vacant lot beside Morris Bank which is the former location of the Raco gas station. Parker's wanted to purchase an abandon finance company building to demolish for the project. Raco company acquired that building and property so they would have the land to complete the Parker's Kitchen project.
Parker's ran into issues with that property and the deal died. The finance building now sits in disrepair.
Persistences seems to have paid off finally, with the purchase of a former gas station and the Olliff building behind the station.
The developers for the Wal-Mart Market came very close to acquiring this entire block to build a Wal-Mart Market. The deal died when one property owner refused to sell.
Now that a competitor is coming, it will be interesting to see what Enmarket will do with the adjacent corner. Hopefully, they will clean up the property and demolish or renovate the old KFC. That corner has become an eyesore to the "front porch" of our city.
Parker's Kitchen has an aggressive growth strategy in the county. We will see construction started on several more locations soon.
