Salina Post
A Panda Express could potentially arrive to Salina along South 9th Street.
This proposed building would be a 2,827 square foot, with a maximum occupancy of 75 people.
The vacant lot where the building is proposed is near the Market Place Apartments towards the northeast. According to the city code, a maximum of 31 parking spaces are available, but the applicant of the proposal is seeking to add it up to 56.
With more parking spaces, this would keep customers parked entirely on-site and protecting neighboring properties by preventing overflow, according to the applicant.
By adding these additional parking spaces, the city staff’s concerns is the increase of stormwater runoff and city staff has asked the project engineer to verify if the 56 spaces will not interfere with that.
The applicant states that limiting the spaces to only 31, would restrict meeting customer demands and create overflow of parking.
The Salina location expected to outperform 10 to 15% higher than the national average in sales projections, with a ratio of 70% for dine-in and a 30% drive-thru rate.
Due to the proposal being approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals, approval is required from the Planning Commission for the additional parking spaces as well, before constriction would start.
Panda Express was founded in 1983 by Andrew and Peggy Cherng. It the largest Asian-American fast-food chain in the world, generating over $6 billion in annual revenue with more than 2,600 locations.