Nanuet McDonald's: Closed for Demo, New "Green" Store to Open in 3 Months

That familiar ’s at the corner of Route 59 and Smith/Church Street closed Sunday night at midnight. There’s now a chain-link fence closing the entire property off from the rest of the Rockland Shopping Center. Once a popular local favorite due to its location to the library and schools, area residents will have to find an alternative for the next few months.

“We’ll be back,” said Store Manager Victor Oliveras. “A lot of people like it because of its location. We’ve been here for 36 years.”

Ray Kroc founded the McDonald’s Corporation in 1955 by opening up the first one in Des Plaines, IL. 20 years later, this Nanuet McDonald’s opened in 1975, the same year the first McDonald’s Drive Thru was added to the store in Sierra Vista, AZ and the Egg McMuffin was added to the national menu after Owner/Operator Herb Peterson created in Santa Barbara, CA. just four years earlier.

“We’re going to rebuild,” Oliveras said. “We’re going to knock it down to the ground and make a brand new, more energy efficient building.  We’re looking at three to three and a half months before we reopen.”

In the meantime, this McDonald's is directing their customers to other local branches:

• at 106 Route 59 in Spring Valley
• at in Nyack
• at in New City

In August 2010, Clarkstown Planning Board members reviewed the plan to demolish and rebuild this McDonald’s. 

“The McDonalds in Nanuet … anticipate that demolition will take 30 days start to finish,” said Joe Simoes, Clarkstown Town Planner. “The existing building is proposed to be replaced by a new one-story, 4,973 square foot McDonald's.”

“We need to clear out everything first before the demo,” Oliveras said, adding that furniture, appliances and the air conditioning unit needed to be removed “little by little.”

However, the Clarkstown Building Department said that McDonald’s applied for a demolition permit, but it has not been approved yet.

“One thing looking to be upgraded, besides the general appearance for the restaurant, is the drive-thru. The new proposal calls for as many as 11 cars to wait comfortable on the drive-thru without the backup spilling out onto the shopping center parking lot of its access road off Church Street,” according to an earlier .

“The general placement of the building and parking will remain the same,” said Simoes. “However, the drive-thru circulation will be changed to provide more room for the stacking of vehicles waiting for service.”

Oliveras was not specific as to what the “green” upgrades would be or what would be kept from the original building and layout, only that things would be shifted around and improved.

“You’re going to be surprised,” he said.

Community Reaction

“If it’s going to be more green, I think that will attract more people,” said Danny Vondervor, a Pathmark employee. “When things are energy efficient, it’s cheaper.” Vondervor learned electrical work in school and added that the issue with “greening” businesses and homes was the high cost to do so.

Another local man agreed with Vondervor. Ben Cirlin attended a home show and said that making homes energy efficient was not a cheap project.

“I wish everybody did that (became more energy efficient,)” he said. “I’m very pro-environment but the biggest problem is that it’s too expensive.”

“I kind of wanted it to stay,” said Samantha Rogers, a Nanuet teen. “My friends, we would go there and hang out a lot. I hope (the new building) is better.”

“If it’s going to be energy efficient, then that’s great, anything to preserve natural resources,” said Joanne Weisbecker, local resident. “Also, if traffic flow is going to be improved, that’s even better. It was always a little tight to get into the parking lot.”

Two Patch users gave this McDonald's a rating of 2 out of 5 stars.

"This place serious needs a face lift; inside the seats are ripped and torn and the arrangement of seating is awkward. I also agree with that it should not be open 24 hours or have cops there more often," said Michael Grella.

"They shouldn't have 24-hour service, because all the gearheads hang out all hours of the night. For those uninformed, gearheads are the ones that drag-race up and down Rt.304, with engines screaming. You can hear them rev up their engines and burning rubber across the parking lot.

During the summer months, I rarely leave my window open. It sounds like I'm camped out in the oval at the Indy 500.The cops can't catch them—I rarely, if ever, have heard a police siren wail in pursuit of one of these scoflaws.

McD's surely doesn't condone the behavior of their customers, but at the same time is not discouraging loitering, as long as someone keeps buying food. If they closed at normal hours, the entire lot would be closed and these kids would then be trespassing. Think about it," according to the review of another Patch user.