By Kaitlin Hoskins, News Editor
The future home of Gadsden’s Whataburger has cleared another hurdle in construction, according to the City of Gadsden.
During a regularly scheduled city council meeting Tuesday, August 15, city officials discussed an issue with the land located at 563 East Meighan Boulevard, and the developer’s solution that will cost the city $125,000.
The issue was flagged by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM).
“As they got into doing some of the site prep, they discovered that there were some environmental items buried in the ground, and so it’s going to be a substantial cost to remediate that and clean all that soil out to get it up to [Alabama Department of Environmental Management]’s standards,” Councilman Jason Wilson said. “We have agreed to assist the developers with the cost of the remediation of that soil and those environmental issues. The $125,000 is our portion.”
The council suspended its rules during the meeting in order to consider the resolution allowing the city to pay the $125,000 as an item of new business to help the construction of Whataburger stay to the proposed schedule. The council then unanimously approved the resolution.
With the issue being resolved, city leaders are hopeful that construction at the site will begin in 30 days.
The Texas-founded chain restaurant’s future home in Gadsden was confirmed In January of 2023. The burger joint was Founded in 1950 in Corpus Christi, the chain operates over 900 restaurants in the United States and generates more than $2 billion annually. Whataburger is currently is based in San Antonio.
According to council members, MWB Restaurants LLC, the developer representing Whataburger, is planning a $4 million investment in constructing the East Gadsden location.
As an incentive, the developer would receive a rebate of two percent of sales taxes for six years from opening day, or $515,000, whichever comes first.