“We thought it was a go … but they did a market study that said it was too close to the one off Route 4, on the corner just to the east of Kroger,” he said
Phil Saken, a regional spokesman for McDonald’s, confirmed that a market study determined the proposed location was too close to another location, but he could not specify which location that was.
“We will continue to evaluate other opportunities in the market,” Saken said.
“We’ll have other opportunities for economic development in the township. If (McDonald’s) changes their minds, we’d love to have them back. Fairfield Twp. is open for business,” Fairfield Twp. Trustee Shannon Hartkemeyer said.
Discount Tire is slated for a lot near the intersection of Walden Ponds Circle and Princeton Road, said McIntyre, but an opening date has not yet been scheduled. A Hobby Lobby opened Sept. 28 in Fairfield Twp. at 6718 Gilmore Road, and an office building is being built there near Frisch's. That building will house a dental office and a tenant to be determined, said Township Administrator Julie Vonderhaar.
In addition, a storage business is under construction called Gilmore Storage Group LLC, to be located between Menards and Ohio 129.
Fairfield has struggled to bring a new restaurant to that location. A Quaker Steak and Lube restaurant was announced for that same area in 2012, but those plans fell through when construction costs turned out to be too expensive, according to Jim Combs, president of Paragon Restaurant Group, the developer of the project.
Other McDonald’s locations in Butler County have seen building activity. The Liberty Twp. location near Cincinnati-Dayton Road and Ohio 129 was recently remodeled, and the Middletown Breiel Boulevard location has been torn down so it can be rebuilt.
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