Greater Cleveland McDonalds franchise owner Bob Jursich, Jr. is opening one of the most energy efficient restaurants in the world. The Garfield Heights venue is a test case for the global restaurant corporation.
McDonald's franchise owner Bob Jursich Jr. says he's had "ketchup in his veins" since he was 12, having grown up in his dad's Memphis Avenue McDonald's.
That ketchup must run green because now-franchise owner Jursich is opening what may be the most energy-efficient McDonald's restaurant in the region.
Located on Rockside Rd. at the entrance to Garfield Mall in Garfield Heights, the 4,000 square-foot building is heated and cooled with geothermal equipment and lighted with LED fixtures. It is powered at least during the day with electricity generated by 341 solar panels in canopies shading the parking lot.
"I make a pretty good living and I want to give something back," said Jursich.
His ultra-sleek restaurant that opens today has integrated more efficiency technologies in one building than any other in the area - so much that top regional, national and global McDonald's executives descended on the restaurant earlier this week to see for themselves.
"This restaurant is considered a test," said Phil Saken, regional communications manager for the corporation.
Jursich has tried to create an earth-friendly effort from the ground up - actually from more than 400 feet under the ground.
Ten geothermal wells are drilled to a depth of 425 feet under the pavement of the restaurant's drive-through. They were drilled by the Fowler Company of Bedford and not only heat and cool the 4,000-square-foot building, but also chill the icemaker, the freezers and the refrigerators.
Simultaneously they provide an endless stream of hot water for the dishwashers and public restrooms.
In other words, the heat from the icemaker and refrigeration units ends up heating the hot water. And what the heat pumps put into the deep wells during the summer ends up heating the building in the winter through a radiant floor heating system that extends outside to the customer sidewalks, keeping them ice-free and dry.
The heat pumps use electricity. And a lot of that power is generated just outside atop two large solar canopies that shade the parking lot.
All USA-made, the 341 solar panels and electronics installed by Dovetail Wind and Solar generate more than 85,000 watts in full sun and are expected to provide about 92,000 kilowatt-hours per year. That's about a quarter of what Jursich expects the restaurant to use in a year.
The restaurant's windows are made of insulating glass. The building's decorative exterior ceramic tiles pull pollutants from the air and the white membrane protecting its roof not only reflects sunlight but also drains rainwater into a storage tank rather than the storm sewer.
The 2,000-square-foot dining area is lit entirely by LED bulbs, some of which are recessed in the ceiling while hundreds of other tiny individual LEDs illuminate from inside large, hand-built wooden fixtures suspended from the 101/2-foot high ceiling.
"There are no fluorescent bulbs in this building," Jursich said. And that means no mercury. And no disposal worries.
When customers place their orders, they will choose from a brightly and cleanly lit electronic menu board that is back-lit by LED bulbs. It is fully programmable.
In the ceiling above the order counter are three 2-foot-by 2-foot light fixtures that look like the brightest LED lights anyone would ever see. But they are not LED bulbs. The panels use sunlight from the roof magnified in mirrored cylinders on the way down to the ceiling. The solar tube systems illuminate the kitchen and public restrooms as well.
"This isn't a test. This is an experiment. This is all my own," said Jursich.
"It started with 'Could we? And What if,'" he said. "It snowballed from there. We kept looking and asking ourselves, what else can we do to save energy and be environmentally friendly?"
General contractor Adam Podojil, owner of Podojil Builders Inc. of Brecksville, architect Jim JP Ptacek of Larsen Architects of Cleveland, and David Gnatowski, regional construction manager for McDonald's, wrestled with those questions for about 18 months.
"And then I got the green light from McDonald's, saying let's see what happens," said Jursich.
He estimated the high-tech efficiency extras cost an additional $1 million over the $2 million to $21/4 million that a nicely finished traditional McDonald's cost these days.
The corporation directly pays the general contractor, but the extra work was something Jursich said he had to finance. "Kudos to First Merit," he said, "for not thinking I was crazy.
"I really hope that the results are positive enough that all of McDonald's would buy into it. But it's a long road. There is a lot of studying to be done and they just needed somebody to be the guinea pig."