McDonald's at the mall

I'm often asked what's going to happen to the McDonald's at the downtown mall.
The answer is: nobody knows for sure.
The restaurant there is in a unique position because it owns its land and it has an easement for cars to reach its drive-through window and parking lot. It's a little hamburger oasis in the barren mall property (though it would never rate among the company's finer franchises).
What's likely to happen, if ex-Mayor Gerard Couture and current Mayor William Stortz can be trusted, is that the McDonald's will vacate its spot in return for a guaranteed new place in whatever gets built on the 17-acre mall site (or perhaps a spot nearby). Rest assured, McDonald's will make out fine, because it has been cooperative and it fits in with most any development scheme.
What's less clear is how developers will incorporate in a drive-through window, which is clearly something that the restaurant owner would want to keep. But no doubt that will get worked out, too.
The Dunkin' Donuts site just past the western edge of the city's 17 acres might also wind up swallowed by whatever revitalization scheme is eventually adopted. That would put it in much the same position as the McDonald's.