IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Starbucks has opened a store in a former drive-thru restaurant on Redlands Boulevard, ending a long-running dispute between Redlands and the project’s developer.
The restaurant at 625 E. Redlands Blvd. opened two weeks ago, said Oscar Orci, the city’s director of development services.
The disagreement, which lasted several years, involved the city’s regulations regarding buildings that are more than 50 years old. The building, which opened in 1960, was a Bakers’s drive-thru for several years and eventually a Mexican food establishment, also a drive-thru.
City regulations require that any significant changes to such a structure must be approved by the city council and the Redlands Historic and Scenic Preservation Commission, which has seven members.
Pacific American Development LLC couldn’t get the necessary permits to build until it worked out a plan with the city to preserve the building as much as possible, including incorporating elements of 1960’s-era automobile culture into it, Orci said.
“We were very firm about that, but once that was worked out they got their permits and there was no problem,” Orci said.
Pacific American considers the site perfect for a Starbucks because it’s close to downtown Redlands and Redlands Boulevard generates a steady flow of traffic.
