Starbucks is adding another Poconos location. Here's the plan

A new Starbucks with a drive-thru is coming to East Stroudsburg at the old Friendly's Restaurant location in the Walmart shopping plaza. Two additional retailers will also be coming to the new site.

The Starbucks will be 2,500 square feet with a standard café and drive-thru, according to a presentation given by Jeff Dean, Keystone Consulting Engineer for ARG Stroudsburg Developers, LLC, at an East Stroudsburg borough council meeting on June 20.

East Stroudsburg Borough Zoning Officer Sam D'Alessandro confirmed Wednesday the project is ready to go at this time. "I don't have any timeframe but they have everything they need from the borough in order to break ground. They have all their permits."

The Friendly's has been torn down already, and equipment and workers were spotted on the site on Wednesday.

It will be part of a new 6,500-square-foot building with three retail tenants at 115 Brown St., East Stroudsburg.

Two other tenants that remain unidentified will occupy about 2,000 square feet each, and also included is a parking lot with over 30 spaces available for the three tenants' combined use.

"The goal is to begin construction at the end of the summer with the hopes that it could be open by the end of the year," Dean said in June.

During the council meeting, a motion was made by Maury Molin, seconded by Erika Huber and passed unanimously by council to approve the land development plan.

Of interest: Sketch plans submitted for Sheetz, apartments in Mount Pocono

Borough Council President Sonia Wolbert said this week she is huge fan of a "drive-thru Starbucks and it is a good sign for the borough. They are a large corporation that wants to locate in areas that are thriving economically. So it's a sign, that we as a growing borough, are moving in the right direction."

Wolbert is hopeful that traffic management will be appropriate in the parking lot. "The infrastructure and signalization is there to support it."

"The borough is very lucky in that our commercial vacancy rate is low," said Wolbert. "We've had a lot of new businesses over the last 5-10 years that chose to locate in the borough and we welcome more. Crystal Street has had a huge revitalization and I think that's only good for our community as well. We have East Stroudsburg University, we have the Lehigh Valley-Pocono hospital and we have a thriving downtown… I think its a great place to live, work and play."

Maria Francis covers K-12 education and real estate, housing and development for the Pocono Record. Reach her at mfrancis@poconorecord.com.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Starbucks, 2 other businesses coming to former Friendly's in Eastburg