An IHOP spokesperson released an official statement Thursday saying the company has no plans at this time to open a franchise in Bangor, despite a project engineer saying during a Tuesday night planning board meeting that it was.
According to plans submitted to the city by Acorn Engineering, a Portland-based firm, the property at 327 Odlin Road will be redeveloped into a Hilton Home2 Suites, the parking lot will be completely redesigned and a 4,800-square-foot restaurant building will be built on the property.
Will Savage, senior project manager with Acorn Engineering, said during his presentation at the planning board meeting that the restaurant was slated to be an IHOP.
“[We are] looking at a detached 4,800-square-foot building which would be a national franchise with a seating capacity of 182, and I don’t think it’s any big secret that this is a proposed IHOP for this location,” Savage said during the meeting, which was videotaped. No one present at the meeting, including the members of the city’s planning board, raised any questions about Savage’s statement that the restaurant would be an IHOP.
On Thursday, Stephanie Peterson, executive director of communications for IHOP, denied that her company was planning to expand to Bangor, after the planning board on Tuesday approved an overall construction project for a restaurant and hotel renovation at 327 Odlin Road.
“While we’re thrilled to hear that people are excited about the possibility of an IHOP in Bangor, Maine, neither the brand or the franchisee who owns the development rights for this area has plans underway to open a restaurant at this time,” she said in an email.
Bangor’s economic development director Tanya Emery on Wednesday morning confirmed the Home2 Suites and IHOP project, and on Thursday morning was surprised to find that IHOP had sent out the statement.
Peterson said that all IHOP restaurants are owned by franchisees, and various regions around the country are controlled by franchise developers, who have right of first refusal to open an IHOP in that area.
According to Peterson, the individual who owns the rights to the Bangor region has not submitted plans to open an IHOP in the city, nor has that person sold or given those rights to anyone else. She declined to give the name of the franchise developer for the Bangor area.
Additionally, Emery said that the plans submitted by Giri Hotels, which owns the 327 Odlin Road property, included traffic counts for the restaurant that are based on an IHOP’s typical traffic patterns.
On Thursday, Savage referred questions to Giri Hotels. Attempts to reach Giri Hotels by the Bangor Daily News on Thursday were unsuccessful.
Giri also shared the Bangor Daily News story on its Twitter account.
One of our #bangormaine hotels is in the news! https://t.co/BfOItyCmC8
— Giri Hotels (@girihotels) August 8, 2018
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