County's Burger Kings will get makeovers

St. Lawrence County's four Burger King restaurants are being renovated at a cost put in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"All of them are undergoing various stages of renovation, whether it's upgrading the outside, upgrading the dining room packages or painting," said Joseph C. Micale, who owns the restaurants in Canton, Massena, Ogdensburg and Potsdam. He also owns a Burger King that opened June 30 in Malone.

Mr. Micale, managing owner of Micale-Dailey Burger King Franchise, said he did not have an exact figure for the total cost of renovations, but it would be several hundred thousand dollars.

"I'm going to have to sell a lot of hamburgers," he said, adding that he already has spent $100,000 just upgrading the parking lot and landscaping at the Massena restaurant, which opened in January 1988 in the Harte Haven Shopping Center.

Work is expected to begin on the inside of the store in August or September, including new kitchen equipment and a renovated dining area. Those upgrades are expected to cost more than $150,000, Mr. Micale said, adding that he renewed the 20-year franchise agreement for the restaurant in January.

This fall, the Ogdensburg restaurant on Canton Street also will get a new dining room, expected to cost between $50,000 and $75,000, and the building will be repainted.

The Canton restaurant, which opened in 1998 next to the Pizza Hut just off Route 310, will get a partial upgrade of the dining room and fresh paint on the exterior, Mr. Micale said, adding that total cost should be in the $50,000 range.

"It's only 10 years old, so the building is still in pretty good shape," he said.

Most of the renovations to the Potsdam restaurant will be outside.

"It's a work in progress," Mr. Micale said, who seemed hesitant to put too much money into an operation that may not remain at its Market Street location.

The stop light at that location, with it's prohibition of a right turn on red, has reduced traffic to the restaurant, Mr. Micale said, adding that the restaurant also gets very little walk-up business.

"The state Department of Transportation said we could put a right turn lane in there, but we'd have to pay for it," he said. "They just don't seem to have any feeling for business."

As a result, Mr. Micale said he is considering a number of options, including moving the nearly 30-year-old restaurant elsewhere on the lot or to a completely different location in Potsdam.

"That's the process I'm going through," he said.

The franchise agreement for the restaurant runs out in nine years, so he basically has until then to make a decision.

"I don't know if I can make that site work, the way the state has that light," Mr. Micale said.

The Malone restaurant actually is a re-opening.

Mr. Micale in late 2003 closed that restaurant and another he owned in Champlain as part of a one-time program under which the parent corporation allowed under-performing outlets to be closed without penalty. However, he never sold the property on which the Malone restaurant was located, so he simply rebuilt there.

Mr. Micale said he had no plans to re-open the Champlain restaurant. However, he is considering a fifth Burger King in St. Lawrence County, possibly in Gouverneur.