GREENVILLE — Excavation has begun on the area that will soon be home to a new Hardee’s restaurant in Greenville.
The building will be located at the corner of Wagner Avenue and Russ Road, just in front of Rural King. The installation of a Hardee’s has been a long, decision-filled, three-year process, confirmed Greenville Mayor Steve Willman.
“This plan has been in the works for almost three years now,” said Willman. “The idea was brought to us by a businessman from the South Dayton, Cincinnati area, and in the past we’ve had a stigma for not being so friendly to outside businesses, so it’s nice to see this one go through. It was a very tough decision for the Planning and Zoning Committee, however.”
With the intersection of Wagner and Russ being arguably the busiest intersection in Darke County, many questions were raised as to how this will impact the flow of traffic through the area. The Greenville Planning and Zoning Committee partook in numerous discussions over the past three years about whether or not the corner of Wagner and Russ will be an acceptable spot for the new restaurant.
“It was a difficult process,” Willman continued. “We had proposed other locations for the restaurant, but the owner wanted it to be at the corner of Wagner and Russ. Obviously, we thought this would be difficult seeing how traffic is already an issue at that intersection, but we do have plans in the works for how to deal with this.”
Willman noted that the city is in talks with Rural King about how to better direct traffic in and out of their parking lot. As it appears now, a majority of Rural King patrons exit the parking lot from the Russ Road exit located directly across from Taco Bell. The rough plan is to request that a majority of Rural King patrons leave the parking lot through the two exits located on Russ Road. All this keeping in mind the city is still considering how to best accommodate traffic and none of these decisions are concrete yet.
Greenville previously hosted a Hardee’s, which closed in the mid-1990s. That location, on Sweitzer Street, is currently occupied by Jack’s Cabin Family Restaurant.
In the end, Greenville will be welcoming a fine new business in the near future, and we all look forward to visiting and enjoying some of the classic American cuisine for which Hardee’s is famous.
