(04-25-2016 09:30 AM)shampoo Wrote:  So how much are we paying McD's for their non-campus land? I love all the brainstorming, but I do wonder what kind of red tape & what kind of return there really may be for ETSU to assume a profitable piece of real estate that is not on campus, however close it may be. I would still think some kind of good will & sponsorship from McD's is where this would have to go ultimately. All the talk of putting a McD's in campus pathways is great, but it's not going to replace the current restaurant, only provide some kind of incentive.

Yeah I agree. I would think that franchise would want to see an arena go next to their restaurant even if it meant moving off that corner. It gets decent business but I wouldn't think near what some of the fast food places on the other side of campus get.

I would ideally like to see the following:

ETSU follows through with their master plan and creates a parking garage at the corner of university parkway and state of franklin and creates a walkway bridge from that parking garage above university parkway over to the corner where McDonalds is located.

The city works with some of the existing businesses and land owners to retool the whole area from university parkway to Watuaga street. Use a proposed ETSU arena as the centerpiece to provide better traffic flow and more opportunities for retail and restaurants. A strip mall along with sit down and fast foot restaurants there would be ideal.

Through that cooperation ETSU gets a great deal on the corner lot from state of franklin to lynn street, ending where Cherokee street is.

Again this is all just pipe dream stuff but everyone wants that area to be transformed. This would be the way to do it.