Plum’s new Taco Bell is on the horizon.
Borough council is expected to vote to approve the project along Golden Mile Highway at its meeting Monday, Feb. 9.
So far, developers have progressed through Plum’s planning commission and zoning hearing board, which granted them minor changes to the drive-thru and parking layout.
The proposed Taco Bell would sit at the site of the former Sheetz on Golden Mile Highway.
The one-acre plot has sat vacant since 2024, when Sheetz closed its doors after moving about 1 mile up the road to its current location at Presque Isle Drive. The gas station-convenience store had operated at the site since 1991.
The Taco Bell restaurant would be operated by Tennessee-based Charter Foods, a franchising company that owns hundreds of A&W, KFC, Long John Silver’s and Taco Bell restaurants in more than a dozen states.
Karpinski Engineering, based in Cleveland, is heading up the design of the restaurant.
Engineer Fritz Alderman said the location’s design would feature lots of glass and shielding to hide rooftop equipment.
On Monday, Plum Manager Dave Soboslay asked Alderman if he expected any traffic back-up onto nearby Pine Valley Drive from the drive-thru. Alderman said he didn’t expect the restaurant to generate enough customer volume to send cars off the property.
But he said the heavily trafficked corridor near the border of Murrysville and Monroeville would serve as a prime location.
“This is a good market for us,” Alderman said. “This’ll be one our bigger locations.”
The proposed location would be the first in Plum. The closest current Taco Bells are in Penn Hills, Monroeville, New Kensington and Harmar.
