Denton Tap Road McDonald’s owner Cliff Johnson remembers riding his bike to the restaurant’s grand opening in 1986. With its red brick exterior and yellow accents, things are changing for this all-too-familiar feature of Coppell.

Johnson Management Company (JMC), the owners, plan to completely rebuild the restaurant with a new, fresh design.

“The building is about 40 years young, so there’s general wear and tear,” Johnson said. “When we started putting dollars and cents together, it was either going to be an extremely expensive renovation or building brand new to be around for another 40, 50 years.”

The design features a third drive-thru and two additional electronic ordering kiosks. The building will expand from its existing 3,980 square feet footprint to 4,180 square feet.

“The drive-thru is a big piece, especially since we pride ourselves in being open 24 hours,” Johnson said. “So if there’s a customer behind you that has a relatively small order, maybe just a drink, but you have something a little more complex, you could just go to that third window and not have to worry about getting stuck in a pipeline of traffic.”

The restaurant will close by the second week of January for a four month period. However, much of the design is still under consideration.

“We definitely have some surprises planned,” Johnson said. “But if you’ve been to a McDonald’s built within the past year or two, they already have newer elements in those, such as AI elements.”

The exterior will feature aluminum paneling with a grey color scheme, consistent with corporate standards. Johnson, a 1993 Coppell High School graduate, hopes to accommodate the surrounding community in its design.

“We wanted to make something complimentary to not just the history of the city, but the history of this specific McDonald’s location,” Johnson said. “It goes all the way down to using different notes to compliment CHS colors, incorporating elements of what Coppell means to us.”

The Coppell Planning & Zoning Commission deliberated and approved the project at its Sept. 18 meeting.

McDonald’s required two exceptions from existing city building ordinances: first, to allow a taller monument sign facing Denton Tap, and second, less parking spaces than currently required for a building of that size. The commission approved these exceptions.

“The parking changes are really a result of their dumpster placement, and they are adding landscaping where there used to be parking,” City of Coppell senior planner Mary Paron-Boswell said.

Langan Engineering project manager Margaret Grissom, who analyzed the new restaurant layout, assured the commission that parking space would not be a concern. This is due to 80% of customer traffic going through the drive-thru.

Neighbors of the McDonald’s have concerns about disruptions caused by the noise. One nearby resident, who wished to remain anonymous, is worried about airborne particulates from the construction site blowing into their yard, impacting his children.

The resident wrote to the Planning & Zoning Commission regarding these concerns.

“I can tell you that the commission didn’t seem very interested in the households that opposed, and quickly moved to approve the construction during the first meeting about it,” the resident said in a written statement.

When asked about sound issues at the commission meeting, a concern brought up by other residents, McDonalds operators provided statistics.

“As a standard, the decibels in a standard kiosk installation is 84 with no car or obstruction.” McDonald’s operation manager Larkell Ludwick said. “We also have control in the store to control the sound, if there are issues.”

Ludwick said McDonald’s would not be opposed to turning down kiosk sound after 10 p.m, and Grissom said planned landscaping would help “screen” sound.

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