Planners OK new location for village McDonald's

A plan to build a new McDonald's was approved by the Howard County Planning Board yesterday as part of the redevelopment of the Harper's Choice Village Center in west Columbia.

The fast-food restaurant is already operating at the center on Harpers Farm Road, but its building will be demolished to make way for a 55,000-square-foot Safeway grocery store that will anchor the improved center, said Wayne Christmann, general manager for Columbia Management Inc., the landlord for most of Columbia's village centers.

McDonald's will build a free-standing restaurant about 100 feet from where it is now. The restaurant will continue to operate in its current site until the new building is finished this spring, Christmann said.

Along with the Safeway, the new village center will feature many of the businesses already there, including a NationsBank, CVS Pharmacy, restaurants and hair salons.

Pub Date: 12/20/96