Original Clinton Taco Bell closes for complete rebuild
Clinton is down to one Taco Bell restaurant now, at least for the next few weeks.
The original location, at 1114 N. Charles G. Seivers Blvd, across from ORNL Federal Credit Union, closed at the end of the day Saturday (June 11), and the building will be torn down and rebuilt, a company official said Monday.
We’re doing a scrape and rebuild,” said Michael Border, chief development officer of the Birmingham-based Tacala Companies LLC, which owns that location as well as the newer store at 2315 N. Charles G. Seivers Blvd.
Demolition of the current building is planned for this coming Monday (June 20), and it will take no more than three months to get a new structure built and open for business, Border said.
“Because of inspections and such from the city, we’re going to say within 90 days,” he said. “We usually do them quicker than that, so hopefully we could be open within the next 75 days.
“Everything we need for the new building has already been secured; we make sure we have everything before we start the project. We’re pretty good at it,” he said.
The new Taco Bell will have a different layout, Border said.
“It will be a 44-seat building, which is our newest building,” he said. “On both sides of the dining room, we will have moveable tabletops, with accessibility for wheelchairs, even with the USB ports.”
And to answer a question before rumors start flying again as they did when the newest Taco Bell here was being built in late 2019: No, there will be no beer sold at the new building, Border said.
“One of the main reasons we don’t sell beer is because most of our customers are underage,” he said.
The new location will have outside patio dining facilities, however, he said.
Tacala, one of the nation’s largest Taco Bell franchisees, operates about 270 of the restaurants across the Southeast and Texas.