Burger King, 1740 Orrington Ave., looks nothing like the way it used to.

Inside, a few construction ladders sit where hordes of Northwestern students used to line up for food. In fact, except for a couple flipped-over trash cans outside the restaurant, the fast food favorite is, well, empty.

Although the owner told the DAILY in January the restaurant would open in late February, it seems to have only made progress in demolition. The reconstruction is another story.

“The building is essentially a shell right now if you look inside,” said owner Chuck James, who owns 37 Burger Kings and has owned the downtown Evanston location for more than a year. “There’s a lot that still needs to be done.”

James estimated there is about a month of construction left on the project. He said he hopes to have it open in early April.

“It’s a very old building and it needs much more renovations than we had anticipated in the infrastructure,” he said. “It’s going to be completely new. … Virtually the entire restaurant will have been replaced when it’s all said and done.”

Construction was also delayed for about a month when the City of Evanston Building Department issued a stop-work order on Jan. 5 because of plumbing work that began without a permit, said City of Evanston Building Official Carolyn Brzezinski.

The building department did not receive an application to continue work from Burger King until Feb. 1, she said. The city issued the permit the next day.

“In any municipality, there are multiple permits that are required to do things,” James said. “If you don’t have your permits sequenced correctly, then things like that can happen.”

When it reopens, the restaurant will have a renovated dining room with new booths, seating and bathrooms.

“We hope for it to be a real show place,” he said. “We think it’s not going to be your typical Burger King. We’re excited about what we’re trying to do there and we hope students and members of the Evanston community are going to like it.”

McCormick freshman Cameron Scovil, who said he went to Burger King a couple times a week during Fall Quarter, said he is anxious to see the restaurant return.

“It’s kind of depressing when it gets to be late at night, everything else is closed and you want something to eat and nothing’s open,” he said. “I guess I can deal without it until April (because) it will be nice to have it for at least part of the last quarter.”

Reach Matt Presser at [email protected].