NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Famous for its drive-thru daiquiris, New Orleans may soon have a drive-thru coffee shop install on a busy Mid-City street that has been targeted for redevelopment.
Local entrepreneur Anthony Marullo plans to open a CC's Coffee House franchise on Canal Street, near the newly opened University Medical Center and the upcoming Veterans Affairs medical complex, The New Orleans Advocate’s Richard Thompson reports.
If built, the shop will be one of the few of its kind in New Orleans, a city with many other drive-thru options, including banks, pharmacies and daiquiri stands.
In October, the City Planning Commission voted 4-2 against Marullo's plan, but the City Council voted unanimously on Nov. 19 to support it.
"(It's) at a spot that really has been needing to be redeveloped for a while, in my opinion," said Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell, whose district includes the site. "With all of the improvements that we're seeing in our biomedical district area, this is truly a step in the right direction."
But not everyone shares the council's enthusiasm for the project.
John Renne, an associate professor of planning and urban studies at the University of New Orleans and head of the Merritt C. Becker Jr. University of New Orleans Transportation Institute, calls the coffee house "a terrible idea."
If planners are seeking to promote access for pedestrians and bicyclists in the area, Renne said that adding a drive-thru facility there is short-sighted and ultimately turns "an urban street into a suburban corridor."
Marullo said he hopes to have his Canal Street coffee shop open by April.
"I think it would be really popular," Wolff said. "If it would spur other development along (Canal Street) and in some of those stretches where we're still seeing a lot of blight and disinvestment, it would be nice, and I think a lot of folks would enjoy it."
