Still no sign of Wendy's Burgers in Whāngarei, four years after saying it would

The old Pizza Hut site on Bank St is still empty with no sign of development, 4 years after Wendy's said work will start in the "next few months'' on a burger joint on the site. Photo / John Stone

It may just be the longest building project in Northland history.

More than four years after fast food company Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers promised work on an outlet in Whāngarei would start ''in the next few months", the proposed site is now a carpark.

Back in 2012 Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers announced it had bought the old Pizza Hut site on Bank St and would open a Wendy's Burgers outlet on the site, which could create up to 50 jobs.

In a follow-up story in the Northern Advocate on January 18, 2014, company CEO Danielle Lendich says the company will be ''progressing with our site in Whāngarei in the next few months.''.

''Delays in other sites have pushed this back, as well as pricing issues with the build,'' Lendich said at the time.

''We have still been busy at Wendy's and have opened three stores in the last six months across the country.''

But last month the site, which had been empty since then, was turned into private carparking.

A resource consent granted by the Whāngarei District Council in 2014 for the company was to ''establish and operate a restaurant and drive-through'' on the site and said it could take about 16 weeks to build.

The Advocate contacted Lendich again to ask when work would start on the planned outlet.

However, in a statement all the company would say was: ''Wendy's has no immediate plans for the Bank St site at this stage.''

In January, 2014, Wendy's had opened a store in Hamilton, re-entered Christchurch after its original store that was open only 10 weeks was evacuated after the earthquake, and opened a second store in Hamilton at Te Rapa.