Editor's note: This article has been revised to reflect the following correction, which will appear in Wednesday's print edition. An article on the front page of Sunday’s edition incorrectly spelled the name of a real-estate agent representing the buyer for a proposed Ludowici McDonald’s. The agent is Jimmy Shanken. The Coastal Courier regrets the error.
Ludowici leaders recently learned that there would be a few changes to the planned McDonald’s restaurant.
Mayor James Fuller said McDonald’s spokesman Jason Horne informed the city July 2 that instead of the combined McDonald’s and Flash Foods being built as originally planned, the restaurant and gas station/convenience store will now be two separate businesses.
“Now, it looks like we’ll be getting a new McDonald’s and a Flash Foods,” Fuller said.
Horne told Fuller that the size of the new McDonald’s will be around 3,000 square feet and that the site plan for the restaurant should be completed sometime around the first week of August, the mayor said.
Conversation for the McDonald’s began in April 2014, when liaison Mike Riddle contacted Horne on behalf of City Council and the mayor about the possibility of bringing a restaurant to Ludowici. After two months of dialogue between the two, Horne met with representatives from the city in July 2014 to explain the process of bringing the restaurant to Ludowici.
In August 2014, Hinesville-based real-estate agent Jimmy Shanken appeared before Ludowici City Council on behalf of a proposed buyer for the project. Shanken told the council and mayor that the buyer would be willing to provide a “good-faith letter” stating that construction would begin on the project as soon as possible, but no later than 12 months from the day the buyer closed on the purchase of the land.
On Jan. 22, the Jonas Company, based in Waycross, purchased the final tract of land where the McDonald’s was proposed to go. That piece of property was a 1.79-acre parcel is at the corner of Highway 84 and Mitcham Road Northeast.
On March 18, the Georgia Department of Transportation approved a final easement that was required for the project.
“There has been a few glitches along the way,” Riddle said. “But according to all of the information we’re getting, the McDonald’s is still on its way.”=