Laundromat Coming to Vacant McDonald's Site in Lansdale

The vacant, dilapidated, eyesore, shuttered McDonald's at 124 E. Main St. in Lansdale is soon to get some new life as a laundromat.
D.A.C. DiSante Inc., of Ivyland, purchased the property for $515,000 in June 2013, according to Montgomery County land records. D.A.C. DiSante Inc. has been in business since 1976, according to an online business listing. The former owner was Franchise Realty Interstate Corp., doing business as McDonald’s USA LLC, according to property records.
The property went on the online auction block in November 2011, but there were no buyers for the property. The minimum bid for the property was $437,500 at the time. The auction included the building and the parking lots on either side, totaling a 36,000-square-foot lot. 
Lansdale Director of Community Development John Ernst said the owner has applied for and received a demolition permit. Zoning use has been authorized, he said, and the owner has applied for a fence permit.
"There's no zoning change at all. It is allowed by-right," Ernst said. "If they want to do any demolition work that they are proposing to do, they have the authorization to start. I do not know the timetable."  
Ernst said construction plans and issuance of a construction permit have not been submitted to Lansdale Borough.  
"They are not tearing the building down," Ernst said. "They are doing minor demolition inside to the walls and demolition on the outside, in terms of giving the building a facelift."   
Ernst said a fence may be erected to close off the trash area.
"I don't think it's for a fence around the property. That's a really expensive fence," he said.