Chick-fil-A targeting September opening in Joliet

Chick-fil-A hopes to have a future Joliet restaurant open for business in September, an engineer working on the project said this week.

Civil engineer Joe Vavrina with HR Green appeared Thursday before the Joliet Plan Commission as it gave preliminary approval for a subdivision plan for the Chick-fil-A site at 2705 Plainfield Road.

Vavrina said afterwards that Chick-fil-A hopes to begin construction in late March or early April.

"They're trying to get it open by September," Vavrina said.

It would be Chick-fil-A's first restaurant in Joliet.

"It's nice to hear Chick-fil-A is coming to town," Plan Commission Chairman John Dillon said at the meeting.

The commission voted 7-0 to recommend approval to the City Council for the subdivision that will divide the 1.5-acre site for Chick-fil-A and a future development. Chick-fil-A will use one acre.

The remaining land will be sold to a developer, Vavrina said.

A city staff memo on the plan said the half-acre will likely be used for a multi-tenant building, but there are no specific plans now.

Chick-fil-A is building on a site now occupied by a vacant Lone Star Steakhouse that closed in 2017. The Lone Star building will be demolished to make room for the Chick-fil-A.

Chick-fil-A has been working on the Joliet restaurant for more than a year. The project had been stalled by floodplain issues that were triggered by the plan for new construction.

The plan is for a 4,863-square-foot restaurant that would have 110 seats inside and an outdoor eating area with 24 seats.