When the Woodlands Drive-In restaurant shut its gates a little over a year ago, many mourned the death of an institution. The restaurant started by hotelier K. Krishna Rau back in the days when the city still went by the name of Madras, held the distinction of not just being the first Drive-In restaurant in the city but also the first to introduce the much-loved Chana Batura (chickpeas masala with fried, puffy bread) to the Dosa eating public.

But it wasn’t only the Chana Batura that made the restaurant the popular landmark it soon became. It was also the setting. The restaurant, with its ample space and expansive green cover, was often the preferred venue for small-time businessmen who made it their second office, for writers who made it their second home and for lovers who wanted nothing more than a little privacy. The waiters didn’t bother anyone, the coffee came at Rs 10 and a meal at not a lot more.

In April 2008, however, the restaurant’s days came to a drawn-out, slightly unceremonious and some would say, imminent end. After years of faultless service, the restaurant, perhaps seeing its end in sight, grew increasingly indifferent towards its quality, service and method. Chipped crockery, substandard food and worst of all, falling hygiene became increasingly synonymous with the restaurant.

But it was matters far more serious and longstanding that forced the restaurant to close its doors. In a court order issued by the High Court, the state owned property on which the restaurant stood, was handed back to the government following a legal struggle that lasted the best part of 30 years. The lease between Krishna Rau and the state owned Agri-Horticulture Society that had allowed Krishna Rau to run Woodies since 1962, was declared void and null.

With the land back in the hands of the state, the government soon revealed an elaborate plan for the 18-acre site that will please urban planners and environmentalists world over, announcing that the space was to become a world-class botanical park and a dedicated Horticulture Research Centre, an island of green in the heart of the city along the lines of the famous Lalbagh in Bengaluru.

The government has since tasked the Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited with finding appropriate consultants to design the site. In what is a blueprint of sorts, the committee revealed that apart from a sprawling public park, the site would also accommodate a greenhouse for the development of rare species of medicinal and non-medicinal plants. The Horticulture Research Centre situated in the site will also be linked to the Agri-Horticultural Society (whose offices are situated across the road) by an overhead vestibule and a dedicated underground walkway.

Nothing is perhaps more significant about this proposal than the location itself. Cathedral Road, on which the site exists, is a thriving part of the city. Few metres down the road, is a major junction that is home to the city’s first and most popular flyover, the Gemini Flyover. Around this hub exist cinemas, hotels, coffee shops, bookshops, shopping malls, offices, schools, colleges and plenty of traffic. If there is anything the area needs, or the city for that matter, it is a public park. Soon, it will get just that.

When the government announced its intentions to reclaim the land that the Woodlands Drive-In restaurant once stood on, they said it was for the benefit of the public. By replacing a has-been restaurant with a sprawling public park, the government could not have done a better thing. Hopefully, the regulars at Woodies will agree.