Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM

Old Blimpie / Burger King Site on Central near UNM

Anybody know what's going in there?
Lots of construction going on.

Permalink Reply by Patricia on November 28, 2007 at 11:09am: Don't know if this is true, a construction worker told my co-worker that a Starbucks and a few other places were going in...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Eckleburg and Grumblecake on November 28, 2007 at 12:29pm: I love me a vanilla latte, but damn, these Starbucks are gettin' to be a little much.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tahnee on November 28, 2007 at 3:16pm: i don't know but it's been buggin me. *crosses fingers hoping for something good*; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by killbox on November 28, 2007 at 6:31pm: in time? in time to save the grand-fathered in drive up zoning variance? I know that's why they let the Salvation army use the drive up for free last Xmas(or was it 2 years ago?) apparently if it goes unused too long they loose the zoning for it and its gone forever..; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tahnee on November 29, 2007 at 2:03pm: ugh. winnings is still my pick.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on November 29, 2007 at 5:30pm: Yeah, Winnings kicks butt as far as UNM-area coffee is concerned. I'm sort of amused that the new Harvard streetscape appears to be using Winnings's storefront as their explicit model.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on November 28, 2007 at 7:32pm: Arrrgh, another Starbuck's? Well, I guess it's no surprise...UNM was due for another one. I wouldn't be sorry to see the drive-up (or the huge parking lot) go away, though. That could be prime space for something a touch more urban and pedestrian friendly.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by hettie on November 30, 2007 at 12:08am: starf***ks?!? noooo.... well, I suppose anything is better than the empty building, but only just. (I wish the city and developers would pay more attention to the strip of central that runs from yale to university. there's potential there. when the baskin robbins was replaced by a check cashing place, that corner of buena vista and central lost a lot of its appeal.) drive up corporate coffee, huh? well, at least it's not another national burger chain. sigh.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rita on February 28, 2008 at 6:34pm: I thought I was the only one who referred to them as, well, what you said! ha! ha!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ayax on November 30, 2007 at 3:53pm: I really hope it will be a Starbucker, because I told a captive audience (it wondered out loud) in the 66 bus it was going to be one. Lots of smiles!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by NonNumericDave on November 30, 2007 at 3:30pm: I used to eat at that Blimpie once or twice a week, so I'm sort of disappointed that they're replacing it with even more coffee.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ben Roberts on December 5, 2007 at 5:49pm: It will be a Starbucks, one way or another, but actually the permitting for the drive through is under appeal.

The local neighborhood association (Silver Hill) argues that the Salvation Army didn't meet the requirement for a drive through service window since they used the window for people to drop off rather than to pick up, and "providing goods or services" through the window or some such is the definition for a drive through service window.

Therefore according to their argument, since it was used for receiving, rather than providing, the drive through wasn't used for more than a year, and lost its grandfathered status. Since new drive through windows aren't allowed within the Sector Plan for the area, Starbucks therefore couldn't build one, and the initial building permit was issued inappropriately. Boring stuff but there you have it.

So if the appeal goes through it will be a Starbucks sans drive thru, if it doesn't, there will be a drive through, but either way its Starbucks. I suppose if the drive thru is canned they could pull out entirely, but it doesn't seem likely.; ▶ Reply to This

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