Panera rises at Steakburger site

Steakburger is gone, but the beloved fast-food joint won’t be forgotten at its former home in Hazel Dell.

Panera Bread, nearing completion on its new restaurant on Northeast Highway 99 at 72nd Street, has reconditioned three letters from the red neon “Steakburger” sign to create the word “eat.” That new sign will be displayed in the dining room of the new Panera, said Sherri Kennedy, project manager for MAJ Development, the Vancouver-based developer of the approximately two-acre site.

“We worked with the Panera folks and told them that people were very fond of Steakburger,” said Kennedy, adding that reconditioning a portion of the old sign was a challenging task.

While the 4,371-square-foot Panera Bread restaurant looks far from finished, Kennedy said the company hopes to open it this year. It will be the second Clark County outlet for the St. Louis-based company, which operates 1,845 bakery cafes in the United States and Ontario, Canada, under the Panera Bread, Saint Louis Bread Co., and Paradise Bakery & Cafe names.

The cafe’s dining area will seat 116 patrons, and it will be the first in the county with a drive-through window. Panera’s other Clark County cafe is at 915 S.E. 164th Ave., and the company also has a cafe at Portland’s Jantzen Beach.

Two other commercial buildings are in the works at the former Steakburger site, which also contained a miniature golf course.

Pacific Dental Group will open a 3,000-square-foot clinic with seven new jobs, Kennedy said. Taco Bell is building a new restaurant to replace an existing restaurant at 7006 N.E. Highway 99, she said. Both are scheduled for spring openings.

One pad, zoned for office retail, remains available for development, Kennedy said. MAJ Development is in negotiations with a possible tenant for that site, which has room for a 3,600-square-foot building, she said.

“We are excited about the improvements on this site and in the whole Highway 99 corridor,” she said.