OAK BROOK, Ill. -- It's clear from a block away that this is no ordinary McDonald's restaurant. The closest restaurant site to McDonald's corporate headquarters in Oak Brook is a two-story building on more than an acre of land.
About six months after breaking ground, the new restaurant with a dramatic curved roof opened its doors today, giving consumers a glimpse of the future of McDonald's. At 10,500 square feet and more than 100 parking spaces, the restaurant is something of a prototype on steroids.
Earlier this year, Oak Brook-based [image-nocss] McDonald's unveiled a prototype store with clean lines and customer-friendly design that will be built on most future McDonald's sites. But this Oak Brook building goes above and beyond the prototype design with television monitors posted throughout, CD-burning stations, Web-surfing stations and a double drive-thru lane to serve customers.
Surrounded by numerous landscaped retention ponds, the building houses both a McDonald's restaurant and a McCafe, which offers specialty coffees and pastries. There's seating inside for 250 customers and an outdoor patio area with seating for 60.
Employees of the nearby McDonald's Plaza office building got an early look at the new natural stone and terra-cotta brick building, which was built on the site of a former storage building, on Friday during a private function that included a luncheon and musical entertainment.
A McDonald's spokesperson told CSP Daily News the corporate-owned restaurant was dedicated to former president and CEO Charlie Bell, who died of cancer in January.
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