GALION — Arby’s is expected to become another fast-food fixture along Portland Way by November.
“That’s our target,” franchise owner Doug McGuire confirmed.
McGuire said the Arby’s will be around 3,000 square-feet and have 75 seats.
Mayor Tom O’Leary said McGuire, of McGuire Galion Property LLC, had other options before he landed in Galion as an ideal prospect for construction.
McGuire has been an Arby’s franchise owner since 2006. He owns four of the restaurant’s 3,300 locations and has a presence in Bucyrus, Marion, Findlay and Delaware. The investor also owns H&R Block buildings in Bucyrus, Shelby and Willard.
“But he chose Galion,” an excited O’Leary said. “And the Galionites are the ones who will make it a success. I’m very excited about the prospect of a new employer in town.”
McGuire said he received approval from (Arby’s) corporate in the last month.
“I’m just waiting on getting architectural drawings from corporate now,” McGuire said. “We don’t expect to have any issues.”
According to Crawford County Auditor files, McGuire purchased 38,070 square feet of real estate on Carter Drive and Portland Way North for $320,000 on April 20. The new building is expected to employ 25 to 40 people.
The addition of an Arby’s in Galion comes in the wake of a recent “expansion mode” for the Atlanta-based international fast-food chain.
“They’ve been expanding for several years — I know they have for at least the last three or four years. But their (corporate) expansion is not dictating mine,” McGuire said. “We’re doing our own expansion.”
Galion-Crestline Area Chamber of Commerce President Joe Kleinknecht attributed McGuire’s interest in moving Arby’s to Galion to the city’s recent successful bid for a 62-bed hotel just down the road.
“That’s what happens when you develop an area, you attract more businesses,” Kleinknecht said. “The hotel will bring more, we hoped that would happen all along. We’re happy to have them.”
