Checkers near campus to get LED lights, new roof

A Checkers near UF’s campus will be renovated for the first time in more than two decades before the start of the Spring semester.

The chain’s location at the intersection of West University Avenue and Southwest 34th Street will be the first of nearly 840 in the country to get environmentally friendly LED lighting, a new roof and a repainted parking lot. The restaurants will also go from a double drive-thru to a single.

“What we are trying to do is make the building more contemporary,” said Jennifer Durham, the Checkers chief development officer and senior vice president. The company’s retro design will remain.

The restaurant’s renovation will cost about $150,000, she said. The full remodeling is expected to be done by Dec. 23, but the restaurant will remain open throughout renovations.

Durham, a UF alumna, said she decided to remodel the Gainesville Checkers location near campus first because of how well it’s been doing.

The 47-year-old said she remembers riding her bike there for fries as a UF student after it opened in January 1994. She said the restaurant has looked the same ever since.

“That particular corner is one that has not had a lot of attention in quite some time,” Durham said.

Maxwell Carter, a 19-year-old UF industrial and systems engineering freshman, said he might visit the Checkers after it’s renovated for some fries.

“I think it’d be cool if I was the first one to go there and tell people about it,” Carter said.