Taco Bell, KFC plan joint unit in Madras

Plans have been submitted to the city of Madras for a combined Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell drive-through restaurant for downtown’s north end commercial district.

Located at the corner of B and 4th streets on a vacant lot, the building would house the first KFC and Taco Bell restaurants in Madras.

It could signal more national businesses to come, said Holli Van Wert, executive director of the Madras-Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce.

”We’d like to call this a trend,” Van Wert said. ”We’re at the cusp, literally, with residential and commercial development as well as the prison coming on line at the same time.”

Madras’ population of 6,070 is expected to double within 10 years, city leaders say.

Several subdivisions, including the 1,900-unit Yarrow, have begun popping up around the city.

Yarrow is selling lots and will begin selling homes as early as May, Van Wert said.

Farther north of the planned fast-food restaurants, a developer is building a 72-room hotel, conference center and 14-acre commercial district, which may attract additional national retailers, said Sandy Priday, owner of developer Cross Keys LLC.

”A lot of it has been talk so far, but there’s been interest,” Priday said.

On the east side of town, the Deer Ridge Correctional Institution, which will include minimum- and medium-security facilities, is expected to bring at least 400 jobs to the city. The minimum-security prison will open in September, followed by the medium-security facility a year later, Van Wert said.

Other large commercial developments, planned on the city’s south end, include Jefferson Square and The Stockyards. Both are seeking national and regional retailers.

Cliff Reynolds, co-owner and general manager of the Best Western Madras Inn across the street from the proposed Taco Bell and KFC likes the restaurant plans.

”Another restaurant in the area can’t hurt,” he said. ”It’s a bonus for us because it puts another outlet across the street.”

The property is located in a zoning district slated for more pedestrian-friendly businesses, but the applicant applied before the new zoning rules took effect, City Administrator Mike Morgan said in reference to the drive-through.

”They struck me as very sophisticated developers who have been there and done that,” Morgan said. ”I can’t see any objections to this (project). It’s very positive.”

The applicant, Robin Merrell, of Springfield, declined comment for this story.