New Sonic restaurant coming to Hardie Avenue

The new, 2,558-square-foot restaurant will be the first foray into King County for the Oklahoma-based retailer.

Get ready fast food fans, Renton is about to get a big new player in the market as plans to build a new Sonic Drive-In near the Walmart on Rainier Avenue South have been announced.

The new, 2,558-square-foot restaurant will be the first foray into King County for the Oklahoma-based retailer.

According to Senior Planner Clark Close, when built the new restaurant, to be located on what is now overflow parking in a corner of the Walmart parking lot near 735 Hardie Ave. SW will have a drive-through as well as the traditional Sonic canopy drive-in area.

Close said when plans for the building originally came in, the company submitted a design like the recently opened store in Poulsbo, but during an administrative review, the city put the project on hold and not only asked the developers to adjust their design based on city setbacks from Hardie Avenue, but also to change the appearance to more closely match the city’s design standards.

“There were too many blank walls,” Close said this week of the original design.

The newly approved design includes an additional bank of windows and a changed roof line, which instead of the original flush wall-to-roof design now features a “hip roof” that projects out from the building and will create a shadow line.

The project is listed at $810,000 and there is no official timeline for the project, though it will go in for environmental review on Aug. 1.