4th Chick-fil-A in works for area

Plan submitted for Airport Hwy. site in front of Spring Meadows

9/3/2013

Chick-fil-A, which has three Toledo-area restaurants, is planning to add a fourth on Airport Highway in Springfield Township.

The Atlanta fast-casual-dining chain is said to have has secured options to acquire a site at 6720 Airport Hwy. that formerly was a National Tire & Battery store.

The site is between a Panera Bread restaurant and a Barney’s Convenience Mart in front of the Spring Meadows Shopping Center.

Chick-fil-A wants to tear down the closed tire-and-battery store and build a 4,800-square-foot restaurant that could open by January, 2014. The store would employ about 100 workers, mostly part-timers.

The company has hired an Akron architectural firm, GBC Design, to design the store, which will use the company’s latest store concept. On Aug. 20, GBC submitted a site plan for the restaurant to the Springfield Township Zoning Department.

Zoning Inspector Jacob Barnes said that because the site is zoned for commercial use, the site plan could be approved before the end of the September, then submitted to Lucas County to seek a building permit.

A site plan takes 30 to 45 days to review, he said. “But it can’t really be denied. It just has to comply with the zoning regulations,” Mr. Barnes added.

Jonathan Winn, who operates the Chick-fil-A franchise at Talmadge Road and Sylvania Avenue that opened in November, said a franchisee for the Airport Highway restaurant hasn’t been chosen.

Typically, he said, Chick-fil-A’s corporate office will choose a site for an area, set plans in motion, then choose a franchisee once plans are under way.

When it opens, it will be individually owned and operated.

“It could end up being one of four or five owners. ... Chick-fil-A will choose the best owner for that location,” he said.

Mr. Winn said the Airport Highway corridor is need of a franchise.

“Through our catering operation, we are delivering down there all the time,” he said.

The building will have a new, open-air look and double drive-thru windows, Mr. Winn added.

Mr. Barnes said the design plans call for an attractive building.

“It should be really nice. It is going to look a little bit different than their other stores,” he said.

“We have had all buildings on that stretch incorporate canopies and this one will have them.It should look pretty unique.”

In addition to the store at Talmadge and Sylvania, Chick-fil-A has a store inside the Westfield Franklin Mark mall and another on Fremont Pike in Perrysburg Township that opened Nov. 1.

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.