Waterford design board approves Restaurant Depot site plan, asks for facade alternatives

The Waterford Design Review Board on Feb. 24 conditionally approved a site plan for a roughly 45,000-square-foot Restaurant Depot at 161 Waterford Parkway North, with the board asking the applicant to return with alternative design treatments for the building's front to reduce the sense of a monolithic facade.

Chaz Evans of Boller Engineering described the site as the parcel between Lowe's and Walmart that had been approved previously for a 50,000-square-foot retail block; the current proposal includes four loading docks, a southern main entrance, a generator area and parking reconfiguration with additional islands and trees. "A majority of the parking lot had been constructed ... the lot itself was left as a grass field," Evans said during the presentation.

Architect Heather Mize said the building will be a 34-foot-high precast concrete building in Restaurant Depot's white-and-blue color scheme with internally illuminated signage and recessed loading dock doors. Board members repeatedly called the design a "big white box" and urged treatments to add visual interest at the entrance. The chair said it "would be nice if it were a little more visually interesting," and the design team offered paint accents, a portal/canopy where feasible, textured panels, or limited architectural features near the entry as lower-impact options.

The applicant and architect committed to prepare alternative front-entry treatments for the board to review. The board's motion to accept the plans included the understanding that the applicant would return with these alternatives and recommendations that the board can forward on to the Planning & Zoning Commission; Planning & Zoning review was stated to be scheduled for March 10.