Chick-fil-A is moving forward with plans in Collierville. Here's where things stand.
Chick-fil-A is looking to build a bigger location that would replace its existing restaurant in Collierville.
The Collierville Planning Commission recently received the latest plans from Chick-fil-A to bring a new store to the area. A request for approval of the preliminary site plan will go in front of the planning commission on Dec. 7.
The proposed Chick-fil-A restaurant — located in the Cartwright Place Business Center — will be almost double the size of the current Collierville location at 1036 W. Poplar Ave.
Planning commission officials said the proposed Chick-fil-A is expected to be 6,110 square feet, while the present restaurant is 3,950 square feet. It was built in 2000.
“They (owners of Collierville Chick-fil-A) had told us all along that they wanted to replace the existing store on (West) Poplar Avenue,” Town Planner Jaime Groce said. "It’s older and has been there for a couple decades. It doesn’t meet their needs.”
The new proposed Chick-fil-A will sit on 2.54 acres located north of Poplar Avenue, west of Bray Station Road and east of Cartwright Farm Lane. Donquetta Singleton, assistant town planner, said the dining area of the restaurant is expected to have indoor seating for 100 and seating for at least 48 on the outdoor patio. The current Chick-fil-A has no outdoor seating and little indoor seating.
The new restaurant is slated to have 72 parking spaces. Groce indicated the preliminary site plan also shows 16 future spaces, which could only be built if the town changes its maximum parking limit regulations for restaurants of this size.
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If the planning commission approves Chick-fil-A's preliminary site plan on Dec. 7, it will move on to the Design Review Commission (DRC) agenda for a recommendation on Dec. 14.
The preliminary site plan is tentatively on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s meeting agenda on Jan. 8 for a final decision. If the board approves the preliminary site plan, Chick-fil-A would still need to apply for a final site plan and building permit before it could construct the new restaurant, according to planning commission officials.
What happened to plans for second Chick-fil-A in Collierville?
Chick-fil-A has discussed in the past adding another location in Collierville at Wolf River Boulevard and Houston Levee Road.
In June 2022, the Atlanta-based restaurant filed parking variance cases for each of the new locations to increase parking spaces. The Houston Levee Road project was permitted 55 parking spots, but Chick-fil-A asked for 81. Initially, the Bray Station Road development, which is now slated to have 72 parking spaces, was allowed 53 spots. However, the applicant first requested 60.
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Soon after, both applications were pulled by the applicants before the board of zoning appeals could vote on them.
“They ended up backing off that (Houston Levee Road) site plan right now,” Groce said.
Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Corey.Davis@commercialappeal.com or 901-293-1610.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Chick-fil-A in Collierville: The latest on plans for new restaurant
