CRANBERRY TWP — A Cracker Barrel restaurant and a six-story Element hotel are proposed along Route 228 in Cranberry Township. The two businesses are planned for a 5.86-acre property on the south side of Route 228 near the intersection with Cranberry Woods Drive. The property formerly held a restaurant, ECHO, which closed about two years ago. The Cranberry Planning Advisory Commission Monday night voted to recommend the plans to the board of supervisors contingent on minor changes to the restaurant's design. The plans are proposed by Mars Real Estate Holdings and include dividing the parcel into two lots because the businesses would be owned separately. Access to the parking lots for both businesses would be from Longtree Way, which intersects in a traffic circle with Cranberry Woods Drive to the east of the development and also has an intersection with Route 228 for eastbound traffic only. The Cracker Barrel, which includes a restaurant and a “Country Store” retail space, would be 9,125 square feet and would be built at the front of the property.

It would be the first Cracker Barrel in Butler County, though there are also locations in North Fayette Township in Allegheny County and in Washington, Pa. The Element hotel would be 69,600 square feet, six stories and have 102 rooms. The vacant restaurant building there would be demolished. Element is a chain of hotels owned by Marriott with 76 locations around the world. The Cranberry location would be the second to be built in Pennsylvania. An Element in Philadelphia is slated to open in 2018, according to its website.