McDonald's on Lake Shore Closes

I am sure that many of you know by now that the Euclid Beach McDonald's at 15900 Lakeshore Boulevard is now CLOSED.  They closed their doors as of 5:00 PM on Tuesday, June 30th, 2015.

This is one of 700 McDonald's restaurants being shuttered by the McDonald’s Corporation.  I met with their representatives and the franchise holder to discuss this matter in detail and have been in discussion with them over the last year regarding the deteriorating state of the Lakeshore Boulevard franchise.

Their argument for closure is: The building is in need of over $700,000 worth of repairs and upgrades not including the parking lot. We have seen the decline in the building and grounds first hand. The Franchise holder out of Warren, Ohio, Mr. Washington, indicated that he will not put additional money into the building and the McDonald's Corp., who owns the property and building, did not plan to make improvements, either. In fact, they made that quite clear to me during our discussions. In addition, they have indicated that the majority of their business at that location is at the drive-thru window and that most customers are not ordering higher priced menu items and instead the majority of the items being sold is off the "Dollar Menu." The majority of their business is in the morning and from seniors from the high-rises ordering off the "dollar menu" as well. They are not losing money, according to them, but not making the profit margin they desire. That’s not a shock to any of us who have patronized the restaurant in recent years.

It is clear to me that McDonald's Corp. has really lost their way. Their menu is not creative nor in line with today's eating habits. Regardless, their service was terrible at times and the store was unclean to most customers (two recent Health Dept. inspections verify that). In general, the McDonald’s Corporation, in my opinion, allowed the franchise to be run into the ground from the time of the previous owners (Mark & Gayle Pullen, who were top managers and operators). What shocked me - is that the McDonald's Corp. indicated that they have very little control over their franchise operators - which is, quite frankly, troubling since McDonald's name is on the building; it is their image and reputation at stake.

Furthermore, the building had been stripped of all the Euclid Beach memorabilia some time ago, which was critical in helping to attract people to the restaurant especially residents and non-residents who remember the old Euclid Beach Amusement Park. It became a non-descriptive shell of a once viable fast food restaurant.

At this point, the Corporation is planning on demolishing the building sometime within the next several months.  They are planning a walk thru of the property with my office. Our hope is that they will leave up all the trees of stature, grade the site and leave the flag pole on the site. They will retain the property with the desire of selling it for redevelopment. However, they are also responsible for the maintenance of the site and I expect, and will demand that the City holds them to that.

This McDonalds's franchise at this location opened in November of 1989; I know that first hand since I was there with the community at their ribbon cutting ceremony and before that had helped them with zoning and land acquisition. They once had a viable business there and due to their lack of oversight and negligence they let the business turn into a dump where a majority of our own residents would no longer patronize the restaurant.

At this point, as I indicated to Northeast Shores Development Corporation, our focus should be on the south side of the Boulevard between East 156 Street and the Collinwood Recreation Center. Should some retail development be proposed for the McDonald’s site and the old "Pizza Hut" property - only time will tell.  Montlack Realty and their subsidiaries own Dave's, the old Popeye's, the former Ponderosa and the former Goodyear and then there is Euclid Beach Plaza, which is another story. This stretch of retail on the south of the Boulevard is critical to the revitalization of the commercial corridor and is the real challenge at this point, in my opinion.

The biggest losers here are the employees, many of whom have worked there for some time. I wish them the best. My hope is that the McDonald’s Corporation will help find the employees positions at other locations within the corporation.

Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. Feel free to call me at my office at (216) 664-4236 or email me at mpolensek@clevelandcitycouncil.org.  Look forward to seeing you at our community’s upcoming events.

Take a look at the Scoop on Summer (www.scooponsummer.org) for a listing of upcoming events and my latest newsletter which should have been delivered to you this past week.

Councilman Michael Polensek