Business & Tech

Starbucks Planning Renovation To Madison Store

One fewer seat inside, nine more outside planned; Request sparks discussion about parking in CVS plaza; Planning & Zoning Commission grants approval to request.

 

The shop at the CVS plaza in downtown Madison at 613 Boston Post Road will undergo renovations, scheduled to begin sometime in mid-March.

Brian Lorenz, of WD Partners, a design firm from Dublin, Ohio, presented plans at a recent Planning & Zoning Commission meeting that called for one less seat inside and an additional nine outside. So seating inside would go from 20 to 19, and seating outside would go from 29 to 38.

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Lorenz said the renovations would include additional improvemens to the patio area, including bench seating, and new tables and chairs. "All of the furniture will be switche, there will be new trash receptacles and pots, and new decorative planters," he said. The store also plans to put a new sign outside. 

Modifications to the inside will include some remodeling and the installation of new equipment, Lorenz said.

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Terry Macy, a member of the Planning & Zoning Commission, asked whether there was sufficient parking at the plaza to accomodate the net gain in customers, a subject that was then debated by other members of the commission. 

Commissioner member Ron Clark, with a Starbucks Coffee cup parked prominently in front of him during deliberations, noted that he was a big fan of the coffee shop.

"I've been known to go to Starbucks," he said. "But not to the point where I'm convinced I should have to recuse myself."

He said that "94 percent of the time" he is able to find parking easily. But he, and the other members of the commission, agreed that some additional direction in the parking, when it comes to traffic patterns, would be  good thing. This could be done by painting arrows, among other measures, town officials said.

Clark said the parking lot is popular with many area residents. "In the early morning and weekends, there is a whole group of runners who use the parking lot, run, and then come back," he said. He said Starbucks' outside patio tends to be busy mostly in the evenings, on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. "It's often not highly used during the business day," he said.

P&ZC Member Christopher Traugh said the traffic in front of the store, which is next to a sandwich shop, and , is often so busy that he goes "right to the back" of the parking. "I don't want to have to deal with the front," he said.

Clark asked how long the renovations would take and whether the store would have to be closed.

Lorenz said the renovations likely would take 10 to 14 days, and that he did not know if the store would have to be closed. He said some locations set up a kiosk to serve customers while renovations are underway.

He said after the meeting that both the interior and exterior would look different afterwards. "It will be rebranded and refreshed," he said.

This story was corrected at 3:56 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27 to clarify comments made by Planning & Zoning Commission members.


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