Sound Transit hosts open house on facility that could threaten Dick's Drive-In in Kent

KENT, Wash. -- People in Kent let their thoughts be known about a proposal to tear down Dick's Drive-In's newest restaurant.

Sound Transit is considering bulldozing it and the Midway Shopping Center on Pacific Highway South to make way for a light rail maintenance center.

Dick's Drive-In's owners say they don't want to end what they believe is a promising business there, even if the transit agency pays the company market value in exchange for the property.

Wednesday, people turned out for an open house to learn about all six sites transit officials are considering for the facility. The president of Dick's was one of them.

"We're hoping that we get a lot of comments that say 'Don't take the Midway Shopping Center, where we're located with the Lowe's and the Starbucks," said Dick's Drive-In President Jim Spady. "And they'll say, no instead they should place it in the Midway landfill, which is just a half mile away and has no use right now."

One downside to the landfill location is that it's a superfund site, and could require hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up.

Sound Transit officials say finding 30 acres for their maintenance facility hasn't been easy. They plan to narrow down locations or expand their options later this spring.