A new McDonald's is taking shape at 10200 Montana Ave. in East El Paso, rising on a stretch of road once occupied by a Charlie Clark car lot. The $2.5 million project calls for a drive-thru restaurant with a new parking lot and landscaping, situated directly across the street from Sun Metro's transit operations center.
According to permit filings cited by the El Paso Times, construction plans include demolishing a small building already on the site before building the new restaurant. The project applicant is listed as Martha Ramon of Skyline Civil Group LLC, a Lubbock-based firm, while the property owner is named as Charlie's Freedom El Paso LLC, based in Harlingen. The project is estimated to cost $2.5 million.
The new restaurant will sit next door to Buddy's Beer Barn and Alpha Auto Center, and near Circle K and East El Paso Animal Hospital. The site is across Montana Avenue from Sun Metro's Transit Operations Center at 10151 Montana Ave.
New Development Along Montana Avenue
The McDonald's project adds new commercial construction to this stretch of Montana Avenue.
Separately, Charlie Clark Nissan recently hosted a free fall festival for the community.
Montana Avenue's Fast-Food Boom Continues
This isn't the first quick-service newcomer to land on this stretch of road. In March, Chicago-based Portillo's opened a location at 12221 Montana Ave., marking the chain's entry into the El Paso market. A Dyer Street listing describes a 3,694-square-foot property on a ground lease (LoopNet).
Infrastructure Spending Reshapes the Corridor
The Montana Avenue expansion is part of a wave of public investment in the corridor. The Texas Transportation Commission approved the 2027 Unified Transportation Program, through which the Montana Avenue project received $100.49 million; State Senator Cesar Blanco separately cited $85 million, according to KTSM. Phase 2 is estimated at $182.5 million and is planned from Tierra Este Road to FM 659, with expressway main lanes and frontage roads. TxDOT is targeting completion of the overall corridor for early 2027.
Zabalist lists more than 700 commercial development projects in ZIP code 79925, the area surrounding 10200 Montana Ave.
The corridor's growth hasn't come without safety concerns. A critical-injury crash at Montana Avenue and Lorne Road on September 10 required a FireSTAR helicopter evacuation, as Hoodline previously reported. The intersection is listed as a Sun Metro stop at 10151 Montana Avenue.
No contractor is currently listed for the McDonald's project on the city's permitting website, according to the El Paso Times report. As with other entries in the paper's recurring What's That? series, which tracks construction projects around El Paso, readers are invited to send in locations of unfamiliar construction sites for future coverage.
