Florida company gets $750K building permit for new Clinton Wendy’s
Work is underway on Clinton’s second Wendy’s restaurant.
The Florida-based Wendy’s restaurant franchisee that owns most of the brand’s locations in East Tennessee has begun construction on a $750,000 building for the new location on South Charles G. Seivers Boulevard.
JAE Restaurant Group of Pompano Beach, Fla., which owns 34 Wendy’s locations in the Knoxville area and six in Chattanooga, obtained a building permit June 28 for the facility.
It will be on the now-vacant lot that was the site of the Clinton Christian Church at 400 S. Charles G. Seivers Blvd.
“We have already started work on the building, and construction usually takes about 120 days,” Luis Rivera, JAE’s vice president for construction and facilities, said Tuesday morning.
He said the restaurant would open shortly after that time.
The company bought the church building and its 1.3-acre lot last Oct. 14 for $690,000, and obtained a permit from the city of Clinton in early June to demolish the church building, which had been vacant for several years. The permit stated a cost of $35,000 for the demolition work.
A crew took the building down in less than a day two weeks ago. The site is catercorner across Seivers Boulevard from the McDonald’s restaurant, near the Lewallen Bridge on the west side of town, next door to the Harold Trapp Insurance Agency.
JAE received the building permit from Clinton for the Wendy’s structure on June 28, and listed the owner as WEN Acquisitions Knoxville LLC, with the same address as the JAE Restaurant Group’s headquarters, 1100 Park Central Blvd. South, Suite 3300, Pompano Beach, Florida.
Contractor for the project was listed as Quality Builders Inc., which has its main offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, and a second office in Knoxville, according to company records.
No timetable has yet been given for when construction will begin and when the new Wendy’s is expected to open. JAE already owns the Wendy’s restaurant on North Seivers Boulevard, just off Interstate 75, Exit 122.
According to county records, the church property sold twice in October – first on Oct. 12 for $390,000, and then again on Oct. 14 for $690,000, with the newest and current owner listed as Wen-Clinton Real Estate LLC. Its address is listed as the same as that of JAE Restaurant Group, 1100 Park Central Blvd. South, Suite 3300, Pompano Beach, Florida.
On April 12, the city of Clinton issued a building permit to JAE for a $311,537 remodeling of the other Wendy’s at 2240 N. Charles G. Seivers Blvd., listing Global Building Contractors LLC as the contractor for that project.
In February 2018, JAE Restaurant Group, one of the largest franchisees of Wendy’s, announced its acquisition of the 34 Wendy’s restaurants throughout the Knoxville area, including Clinton and Jacksboro. That made JAE a major employer in this area, with a total of 1,150 employees, the company’s announcement said.
In 2019, the company bought the six Wendy’s locations in Chattanooga.
Founded in Florida in 2014 with the merger of two large Wendy’s franchisees, JAE now owns and operates 216 of the restaurants in Florida, New Mexico, Texas and Tennessee, with about $350 million in annual revenue, the company’s website shows.
In 2018, JAE Restaurant Group said it planned to begin remodeling its Knoxville-area Wendy’s locations “to include updated features such as fireplaces, a variety of inviting seating options, Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs and digital menu boards.”
JAE also said it had plans to open an additional 10 to 12 locations in the market over the next four years.